Death Note 2020
by SherrieJ1010
Summary: The shinigami, Belphagor gives his Death Note to a Kira worshipper, Taro. Feeling blessed, Kira returns on a massive scale. With more Shinigami coming to the human world, World War III looms on the horizon as six humans get their hands on a Death Note; six death notes, six inhabited continents, six owners all using the notebooks for their own motives. L's work is far from over.
1. Part 1

**Death Note 2020- Part 1**

 **2020**

Shinigami Realm; three shinigami are bored and sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing. Another shinigami approaches them.

"What was that? You actually want to meet him?" The shinigami, Deridovely says.

"That's right."

"Why waste your time talking to him?" The shinigami, Zellogi sees no point.

"Yeah, it's not like he'll tell you anything interesting." The shinigami, Gukku concurs.

"Forget it, it's pointless." Deridovely reiterates the point.

"Shut up and answer the question!" he slams his fish bone staff on the dry, cracking ground. The holes in his skull where his eyes should be glow red. "I know he's around here somewhere. I just want to talk to that shinigami. I heard he had some fun in the human world."

They point to a tall structure in the distance. Grey and dead, it resembles a tree of life or more like a tree of death in this case. This is where the shinigami, Ryuk resides. The shinigami with the fish bone staff tied to his back, red scarf wrapped around his head that holds back his spiked dirty blonde hair, blue crystal googles, worn jacket with undershirt, faded jeans and boots walks up the stone stairs to Ryuk. Still looking pretty human besides being a walking skeleton, this shinigami is a new one. Ryuk sits on a rock looking at the desolate world that is the Shinigami Realm. He turns around feeling a presence watching him. His eyes glow red, but as he sees the visitor, they turn yellow. Blue flames in rock torches light the area.

"Huh? Who are you?

"I've been looking for you. I want to hear your story."

"Story?"

"I'll make it worth your while." He throws Ryuk an apple although this one is from their world which isn't as good as the ones from the human world. He snickers as he holds the apple in his hand.

"Oh well, I would have like one that was a little more juicy." He eats it anyways.

"I want to go down to the human world. I'm sick of this place, it's so boring. I heard that the human world is a lot more interesting."

"Well, it's no use complaining about how boring it is here. Now, if you were thinking of doing something stupid like changing the human world, that would be interesting. I was getting bored anyway, I'll humor you." The shinigami is surprised. "Take it as my appreciation for that lousy apple. I'll tell you the story of the human I once knew; the one who tried to change the world and become God."

A supernatural notebook became the "worst murder weapon in the history of mankind"; quite simply one of the more complicated methods used to kill but the most demoralizing and deceiving. Just picture someone's face and write down their name and they die in 40 seconds. You can write down the circumstances around their death to cover it up or to lead the authorities astray, but you need a name and their face. A high school student in Japan found a death note and used it to kill the major criminals of the world, decreasing the global crime rate dramatically. No crime is worth your life. The world became submissive and paranoid, in constant fear of being judge by an unknown force. The only person brave enough to stand up to Kira was the world's greatest detective, L. He and his two successors, Near and Mello were able to bring Kira, the "crazy mass murderer" to justice and disposed of the death notes the shinigami brought into the human world. It has been seven years since the death of Light Yagami and the disappearance of the Death Note. Crime is on the rise again and the world continues on like he never existed. However, the legacy of Light Yagami-Kira lives on. There are those who no longer fear being judged by Kira and continue to commit crimes and there are those who live honest lives and hope for Kira's return to cleanse the world once again. The world's greatest detective, Nate 'Near' River is currently the new L. He knows that there are more death notes out there than the ones he burned. He also knows that he can't prevent another shinigami, a God of Death from dropping more death notes into our world and causing even more chaos than before. As always, his deductions are correct. When a human is granted immense power, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Ryuk stares at the name in his death note, Light Yagami. As promised, when Light no longer eased his boredom, Ryuk would be the one to kill him.

"No Light, you weren't actually a God back then. You were something else." He looks up from his death note over to the entryway.

"Huh? Uh, he left." He snickers to himself and turns his head to the gray cloudy sky. A light shines in the small clearing of the clouds. "Go on, why not give it a shot. If you're lucky, some unbelievable guy might just pick up your note book. Maybe you'll see something you will never forget for the rest of your life." He stares into the light. "That's what I think. Wouldn't you agree, Light?"

Mantua, Italy 2020. A class of fifth graders sits in their history class. Today's topic is American History. Living in Italy, there is little interest in another country's history, especially when they are still trying to learn their own. The students in this classroom are mostly international students. It is clear what continent the students are from because they sit with their people, talking to each other in their native tongue. Many are from other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, but none from The United States. Most doodle in their notebooks, pass notes, fall asleep or even sneak in a little snack while the teacher is lecturing. Two boys have their textbooks open but work on their math homework that is due in less than an hour. For the one boy, Lucca math comes easy to him so he can wait until the last minute to do it. As for the other boy, Taro math is a challenge and saves it for last; he doesn't care if he finishes it or not.

The teacher writes a quote on the board in Italian, "Quando il sangue nelle vene torna al mare e la terra nelle vostre ossa torna a terra, forse allora ti ricorderai che questa terra non appartiene a te, è lei che appartiene a questa terra." She asks Taro to translate the quote to English. This is an easy task for Taro to do since he can speak three languages fluently: Italian, English and Japanese. He goes to the white board and says and writes the quote in English,

"When the blood in your veins returns to the sea and the earth in your bones returns to the ground, perhaps then you will remember that this land does not belong to you, it is you who belongs to this land."

"Very good, Taro! Now, can anyone tell me what this means?" The kids look around the room at each other, all waiting for the other person to volunteer. Lucca stands up and takes the lead. From his desk he explains,

"The Native Americans were fed up with the colonials claiming land for themselves and using violence to get it. In reality, fighting for land that belongs to no one is pointless because when you die you will return to the earth from whence you came. Earth will keep on living and you will be nothing but a pile of bones in the dirt."

He sits back down and continues to do his homework. The children look away from him feeling uncomfortable around him. Some whisper to each other calling him, "weird", "freak", "creeper" in their native languages. Taro headed back to his seat while Lucca gave his answer. When he sits down an Italian girl whispers to him, "I'd stay away from him newbie. He's got a couple screws loose. Let's just say it runs in his family." Taro doesn't reply. He stares at Lucca as he finishes his homework, intrigued by his answer.

"Thank you, Lucca for that insightful, pretty morbid answer. And yes, Native Americans are very spiritual, nature-oriented people. They believe that every living thing has a unique spirit with its own energy that needs to be heard and memories that need to be collective and common with their ancestors. Like many people, they also have their own views on a supreme being, life, death, the afterlife and even resurrection. For your homework, I want you all to write a short paper on your views about your beliefs be they influenced by your family, the world around you or the things you've witnessed."

"Like ghosts?" An African boy wonders.

"If you believe in such things then yes. Head off to lunch and we will pick up with math when you all get back. Dismissed."

The children grabbed their bagged lunches and headed outside to eat. It's a cool autumn day but it was sunny so they didn't mind. Many Italian schools usually end their day at lunchtime and have school on Saturdays, but this school for international students goes until dinner time with Saturday night classes for review. Most of the children rush out of the room while Lucca takes his time gathering his things. Taro stays in his seat wanting to eat his lunch alone. Lucca walks up to the whiteboard and writes in big red letters, 'KIRA'. He sets his math homework on the teacher's desk.

"That's my essay. Kira is what I believe in. See you on Monday."

With all his things in his backpack he heads home. It's a Friday and the kids want to enjoy as much of the weekend as they can, so some follow suit and leave school early. The teacher doesn't mind because she wants relax after a long week with this "special" group of students. Taro shoves the rest of his PB&J sandwich into his mouth and runs out the classroom to catch up with Lucca. He throws his math homework on the teacher's desk as he leaves. Lucca isn't a fast walker so Taro catches up with him quickly.

"Hey, Lucca! Are you heading home?"

"Yes, what of it."

"You can just leave when you want to?"

"Yeah. Just because my aunt put me in this stupid school doesn't mean I need to be in school longer than the average Italian."

"Yeah, this would never happen in Japan." Taro runs into Lucca as he stops abruptly.

"What do you really want?"

"I want to show you something, but we need to be out of sight." Lucca sees a narrow side street on their left and Taro digs through his bag. He takes out a laptop bag with a lock on the zipper. He takes his left shoe off and shakes his sock. A key falls out.

"What are you hiding?"

"Give me a second." He fiddles with the lock, struggling to unlock it with the key. Lucca is tired of waiting and stomps on the lock as well as Taro's hand. The lock pops open and Lucca opens the bag. His eyes lighten up and a big smile goes across his face. He examines the note book. On its cover it says, 'Death Note'. He opens it and reads the inside cover titled, 'How to use it'.

The human whose name is written in this note shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell. The human who touches the Death Note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note. The person in possession of the Death Note is possessed by a god of death, its original owner, until they die. A god of death can extend their own life by putting a name on their own note, but humans cannot. A god of death cannot be killed even if stabbed in his heart with a knife or shot in the head with a gun. However, there are ways to kill a god of death, which are not generally known to the god of death. One page taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of the page, contains the full effects of the note. If you lose the Death Note or have it stolen, you will lose its ownership unless you retrieve it within 490 days. The individuals who lose the ownership of the Death Note will also lose their memory of the usage of the Death Note. This does not mean that he will lose all the memory from the day he owned it to the day he loses possession, but means he will only lose the memory involving the Death Note. Only a god of death that has passed on their Death Note to a human is able to kill the owner of the Death Note. There are male and female gods of death, but it is neither permitted, nor possible for them to have sexual relations with humans. The gods of death also cannot have sex with each other. The use of the Death Note in the human world sometimes affects other humans' lives or shortens their original life span, even though their names are not actually written in the Death Note itself. In these cases, no matter the cause, the god of death sees only the original lifespan and not the shortened lifespan. All humans, without exception, will eventually die. After they die, the place they go to is MU (nothingness). Once dead, they can never come back to life.

"So many rules and I bet that's not even half of them. Is this a real? I hear there are notebooks like this appearing all over the world since rumors spread about how Kira killed all those criminals."

"Oh it's real. Gods of Death do exist. Can you not see him?" Lucca looks around and sees nothing. Taro points to the sky and Lucca looks to the roof tops. Sitting on one of the ledges is a shinigami. He jumps down to them landing right in front of a shocked Lucca.

"The name's Belphagor."

Just the night before, Taro was watching adult cartoons instead of doing his math homework. Being so late at night, his room is pitch-black and the only light is coming from his TV. His blanket covers his whole body. The only parts of his body exposed are his feet and eyes. Wall scrolls of anime and videogame characters occupy all the wall space in his room. He put his dresser in front of his window to block some of the sunlight from waking him up in the morning. Clothes clean and dirty lie on his floor, bed and hang out of the closet. On his nightstand is a glass of water and a half-eaten margherita pizza. Zoned out in the TV, he jumps at the sound of the telephone ringing. He knows who it is and turns down his TV and leaves the door cracked to hear the conversation. In the living room is the man who takes care of him, his mother's boyfriend, Stephan "Gevanni" Loud.

Thirty-five year old detective, he once was part of the Special Provisions for Kira, better known as SPK. He worked under Near during the Kira investigation seven years ago. He tailed Teru Mikami, a man suspected of being Kira, to learn more about how the death note works and the locations of the other death notes while trying to determine where the real ones were. He was able to tamper with the death notes by creating fake pages and a complete replica that prevented Teru from killing everyone when confronted. Other than Near and Mello, he was one of the major players in executing the capture of Kira by getting Mikami to expose Light to be "God". Now living in Italy, his work is more local than international. He is the primary care-taker of Taro while his mother is away on business trips which are pretty often.

"Good Morning, beautiful. How are you? That's good. No, he's asleep, I think. He thinks I don't know, but I do. I was his age once. You know I don't mind. He's a good kid. Believe me, if they need me they will call me. I just don't want him to have to move and switch schools again. Yeah, school's not so kind to transfer students… until college maybe. Hey, I have a serious question. What are you wearing right now? That sexy shear baby blue lingerie? I know you too well. Yes, I'm wearing my briefs tonight. You need to hurry up and get home, it's been too long. I miss waking up to your smile and kissing you every morning."

"Gross." Knowing where this conversation can go, he opens his door to make sure Stephan know he's awake. The last thing he wants on his mind is his mom and her boyfriend's phone sex conversation. He grabs his cup off his nightstand and heads to the kitchen.

"Hey, Taro! You're awake. Do you want to talk to your mom?"

"No, she always calls this late just to talk to you. I'm getting me some water."

"Well seeing that you're never asleep or studying at this time, I wonder why you don't pick up the phone knowing she will call."

"I have nothing to say to her." He slams his door and finishes watching his show. He hears tapping on his window and thinks it's a tree branch hitting it. He turns up his TV to drown out the noise but he can still hear the tapping which is getting louder and closer. He slowly gets out his bed with his blanket still wrapped around his body trying to find the source of the sound. Standing in front of his window, the shadow of the tree outside is there but no branches are touching. A big thud is heard behind him, he freezes in place. Turning around cautiously he scans his room to see a black notebook sitting on the ground in front of him. The back cover is facing up.

"Where did you come from?" He bends down and picks it up. As he raises his head he finally sees the thing that dropped it. He lets out a terrifying scream.

"How did you, when did you get there? Who are you?" He falls back onto his dresser causing all his hygiene products to fall off the top.

"I am the shinigami that owns that Death Note you just picked up. Now you are its owner. The name's Belphagor." Taro rubs his eyes to make sure he isn't dreaming, but no matter how hard or how many times he rubs them, this god of death remains standing in the middle of his room.

"So they are real! And this, this is Kira's power. Did he wish for me to have it?"

"More are coming to this world. A war is coming for you humans; six death notes, six continents all fighting for power over mankind. You're the chosen one for this continent and now you have accepted." Taro smiles and holds the death note to his chest, cradling it.

"Father, I will not let you down. I will create the new world, the vision you had for this world before I was even born. I know you're watching, God, Kira. Let me carry out your will."

"What an interesting name, shinigami. And so, Kira returns."

"Will you carry out his will with me? I can see it in your eyes, you worship Kira, you think like Kira and most importantly, you know the truth behind death. A war is coming over land that doesn't belong to us, so why not dispose of those who fight over it." Lucca hands Taro his death note.

"Alright, Yagami. I will help you. And you're right, my eyes see a lot more than you know." He puts his hands on his shoulders and stares into his eyes intensely. "I have the eyes, Taro. I was born with Shinigami eyes, so I knew your name before our teacher told us." He steps back and looks above his head. "I don't see the numbers above your head like the rest. I don't know how long you or I will live, but I can kill anyone just by seeing their face now that we have the death note."

"Well, that's a relief. I guess I won't make that deal then, Belphagor. Ok, Lucca. Shall we begin?"

Belphagor snickers to himself as he follows them to a nearby café. As they walk through the streets, none but the two of them can see Belphagor. They get a table near the TV which is on the national news. Taro takes out his homework to cover the notebook while Lucca watches the TV to catch the faces of Italy's criminals.

"The price of peace is death."

 **Bells**

Winchester, England 1992. Dong. Dong. Dong. A child is sitting on a bench looking out a window drawing pictures in the condensation from the cold winter morning. Overcast is across the area and the snow falls heavily but gracefully. Beyond the window is a church on the other side of the street. She draws a shining sun with a smiley face, a flowering tree with petals gliding in the wind as they fall off and a giant dove perched on top of the cross on the church's roof. She admires her masterpiece as a reflection approaches her from behind. It stops right behind her saying nothing. He turns his head sideways and examines her picture with eyes as black as night, bags under them to match. He bites down on the nail of his right thumb and sits on the ground with his knees to his chest, back hunched over and only his feet on the ground; somehow he manages to stay upright and balanced. His restless toes wiggle as he stares at the drawing and then at the girl.

"Well, what do you think?" She pats down on the cushioned bench inviting him to sit next to her instead of on the floor.

"A strange scene for such a gloomy day."

"I suppose. But do you not here the bells? They rang like this the day grandpa bought you here. Do you remember?"

Looking out the window she sees the memory. An elderly man stands at the gate to the house with a small boy who holds the man's hands tightly. The boy's eyes wander as the man opens the gate and fixate on a girl sitting by a window with her eyes close; she is smiling and twirling her long black hair as she is listening to the church bells. When she opens her eyes, her ice blue eyes meet his charcoal black eyes. Dong. Dong. Dong.

"I hear the bells. They sound louder than usual. Perhaps a funeral is going on. They sound sad."

"You're probably right. One day I will get married in that church, though. I will hear the bells chime. Ding-Ding-Ding." She sings.

The boy walks over to the window to see if his deduction was right and sure enough he sees a hearse and mourners dressed in black heading into the church. He blows on the window and in the fog he puts his hand print. She puts her hand on top of his and she can feel the shiver travel through his body. He faces her and gives her a big grin showing the first sign of emotion in his eyes.

"Promise me, you will be there. I want you to hear the happy bells too and not just the sad ones."

He opens the window and a rush of cold air flies into the room. The girl jumps off the bench and wraps her blanket around her tightly. The boy, barefoot and wearing a nightshirt and underwear, jumps out the window into the snow and rolls around. The girl runs to the window and shouts to him, "Hey, get back in here. You'll catch pneumonia and die!"

He stands in the snow with his head to the sky letting snowflakes land on his face. The girl gets frustrated and puts on her winter gear to go get him. As she heads outside she grabs a jar of candy to bribe him with. She goes to where he is in the yard and makes a candy trail from him to the living room so he could dry off by the fireplace. She waits for him but after five minutes she heads back outside. Some of the other kids saw the candy trail which lead to the boy. Angered, he knocks down the other kids one by one by kicking them. They run away as the girl makes it to the front door. She sees them scatter as her grandfather's car pulls into the driveway. The boy turns around to see his father with another orphan, a boy shrouded in darkness with the only distinguishable feature being his light brown eyes and ash blonde hair. The man tells the boy to go inside with the girl while he gets a blanket and wraps it around the boy standing in the snow and carries him inside to the fireplace in his office.

Sitting in his office inside the mansion that is now a school for gifted children the older man and his friend sit in chairs near a fireplace while a boy sits on the rug in front of the fireplace facing away from them, soaking the rug as he dries off. He is working on a puzzle with no picture; just a white background and one-thousand puzzle pieces.

"I found this boy wandering the streets of Winchester five years ago. I felt like it was fate meeting him that day. Roger, this school is meant to be for gifted students and it could be much more. We could raise many more children like him to become the world's greatest detectives. Think about it, we already have a few children here who could rival him one day. Avon and Bran are already showing promise; they can become the first generation of L' successors."

"I know; I am amazed that he has solved some of the world's greatest cold cases and he hasn't even hit puberty yet. I fully agree with you, Watari that there are more children out there with the potential to be as great as him and bring to justice those who thought they could get away with murder."

"They can't hide from me. I am justice." The boy says by instinct without taking his focus off of his puzzle.

Famous inventor and founder of many orphanages throughout England including The Wammy House for gifted children; Quillish 'Watari' Wammy is the only one who was able to contact L directly. He found L abandoned on the streets of Winchester with his family nowhere to be seen. Taking him in as his own son, he quickly realized that he was a genius and could solve mysteries with ease. Raising him throughout the years he enabled him to solve crimes worldwide in secrecy. It wasn't too long before the world noticed L's presence and Watari assumed the role of L's full-time personal assistant, father and communicator leaving his childhood friend, Roger Ruvie to manage Wammy House and raise the potential L' successors.

1996\. The girl sits on the seesaw in the springtime by herself. The younger children play kickball, hop-scotch or tag, forming their own groups usually based on age and gender. She looks around the playground and doesn't see the boys. She kicks up mud as she watches a dark cloud in the distance moves away and in its pale a double rainbow and sunny skies. Suddenly, the sky becomes closer and the ground further away. She grips the seesaw as she turns around to face the other seat.

"Bran, what are you doing?"

"Aren't I supposed to sit on the other side?"

"Well, yeah but not without me knowing! I could have fell off and got a concussion and ended up in a coma for the rest of my life!" He lets out a sinister laugh or more like a snicker.

"Your fascination with death is amusing. Since you're here, you've dealt with at least two so tell me, how did your parents die?"

"My mother died from a mysterious illness. As for my father, he died in a plane crash, according to grandpa. My father never knew I existed. It was my mother who found my paternal grandpa, Mr. Wammy before she died. That's how I ended up here."

"Wow and here I thought it would have been something more traumatic."

"Well, what's your story?"

"My father was beaten to death by a thug while my mother died in a train crash. I witnessed both and I survived both. Watari found me and now I am here."

"I'm surprised death doesn't scare you more."

"Life is scarier than death." Avon walks over to them. He was sitting in the sandbox and overheard their conversation. "Life is nothing but pressure to be the person people believe you to be and death is where you're finally free to be who you want to be." His unruly brown hair covers his barely visible green eyes.

"Avon, you're not even an adult yet and you feel that much pressure already!" She puts her hands on his shoulders while looking him in the eyes. He just hangs his head and looks away.

"I'll never be like L."

"That's our only purpose for being here, Avon. Unless you are 100% sure you can surpass him by being the world's greatest detective or criminal, you should move on. We're not kids anymore."

"Don't listen to him, Avon. I have faith in you."

"No, Bran's right." He removes her hands from his shoulders and walks away. The numbers above his head fluctuate.

"Bran, how can you say that?"

"A test."

"A test…his mental strength?"

"I don't know what the numbers mean. They don't count down or up; they just change to more random numbers every day. There must be a pattern to them though."

"What are you rambling about now?"

"My eyes. They see red numbers and names, but why? When I look at you I see 'Sani Wammy' and numbers under your name. But they are random and have no pattern to them."

"You're so weird, Bran. I'm heading back inside." He follows her but heads to his room. He looks in the mirror only to see his name, Bran Bradford, but no numbers.

2003\. Avon Blacksmith and Bran Bradford were part of the first generation of L successors. From the many orphanages throughout England that Watari owned, children with the potential to take his place-should a criminal get the better of him- were given a single letter as their identity; Avon became 'A' and Bran became 'B'. Eventually a fourth generation came along and from it two boys became the best candidates. Nate 'N' River and Mihael 'M' Keehl were first in line to succeed L and since their arrival to Wammy's House they have been each other's biggest competition. They couldn't be more opposite; Nate is dependent on others yet detached from those around him, calm, quiet and methodical while Mihael is independent yet thrives on the acknowledgment by others, very emotional, loud and cunning. Throughout their childhood, Mihael always felt he was second to Nate and develops an inferiority complex as his hatred for Nate grew. L never decided on who was his true successor, but Mihael knew he would have picked Nate.

L was a mentor from afar. He would video call the orphans and holds a question and answer sessions. Of course, he never revealed his face to any of them, besides the ones with a letter, so all there was on the computer screen was an Old English text of the letter 'L' in black with a white background.

Roger sits next to the computer screen on a chair facing the children. The younger children ask him many questions, while Mihael and Nate stay silent as Avon, Bran and Sani being veterans look on. Linda, a girl with a natural gift of drawing asks L what he is scarred of.

"Well I suppose, monsters. There are many types of monsters in this world. Monsters who will not show themsevles and cause trouble. Monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood and monsters who always tells lies." The children look around the room as if a monster is learking around.

"Lying monsters are a real nuscience. They are much more cunning than other monsters." Sani looks to the ground while holding a textbook for her criminal justice class.

"They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of a human heart." Bran looks around the room that's a sea of names and numbers.

"They eat even though they've never experienced hunger." Mihael snacks on a chocolate bar as he leans against a wall.

"They study even though they have no interest in academics." Nate sits on the floor in the back of the room in his pajamas and plays with a rubix cube.

"They seek friendship even thought they don't know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it because in truth, I am that monster." The children are silent as they take in the words that he says.

"Well, children, I think that's all the time we have for today. Thank you for the call, L. Give Watari my best regards." The screen cuts out and the children carry on with their day.

2004\. Avon committed suicide. The pressures of trying to be L were too much for him to handle. He drowned himself in the bathtub and it was Bran who found his body. His name and the numbers were no longer above his head. His test had worked and he finally knows what the numbers are-lifespans. Not long after A's death, he leaves Wammy's House to figure out a way to equate the numbers above people's heads to how much time they have left before they die. Determined to surpass L by becoming the world's greatest criminal, he devises a string of serial killings known as the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases in the summer of 2005. Using his gift of the eyes, he is able to find people with the initials BB that he could kill on the day they were supposed to die anyways. He enlists the help of Naomi Misora and disguised as L helps her decipher the crime scenes, tricking her by leading her to every conclusion she comes up with from the clues he left at the crime scenes. However, Naomi found out that he would make himself the final victim so L could never solve the case with the murderer being a victim. Saving him from setting himself on fire the case is solved and he is thrown in jail where he dies of a heart attack, becoming one of Kira's first victims or judgments in late 2006, or so the tale says.

2020\. Sani Wammy is a defense attorney and is currently working and living in Japan. Growing up with L at Wammy's House, she knew she would find a career in law. Not much of a detective, she decided her role was in the court room than in the streets. At first, she wanted to put away the criminals L caught but the Kira case is what sparked her interest in becoming a defense attorney instead of a prosecutor. She had an idea that she could prevent those who just need some reform from going to jail and being killed by Kira one day. These people are the youth of the world and she has traveled all over the world being the top attorney wanted in juvenile court. She didn't take on many big cases at first, but she won every case she was on. Her biggest case would be the one where her track record would be tainted.

2012\. Sani was in Japan when she was brought the case of Micca Abandonato. A teenage father accused of beating his girlfriend, Ren Moto to death, butchering her and kidnapping their son who he lost custody of. A warrant was out for his arrest when he was found in Milan, Italy. Sani was his defense attorney while the prosecuting attorney was an old fling of hers from law school, Teru Mikami. Sani truly believed that he did not commit the crime, but the public was on Teru's side.

"Where were you on the night Ren Moto was murdered?" Sani begins with.

"I was at the park by myself lying on a slide looking at the stars. I was trying to clear my mind."

"What was on your mind, Micca?"

"Italy and the family I left behind so Ren wouldn't have to leave hers. I was weary about returning home to Italy the next day."

"Why were you weary?"

"Because my family told me not to run away with Ren, but she was pregnant and her family was financially more stable than mine; they were willing to help raise our child if we came to Japan."

"Back to the night of the murder, how did you get to the park?"

"I drove and I left my car parked ways away. The door was left unlock since no one was around and the keys were with me."

"When did arrive and when did you leave?"

"I arrived around 9:30pm and left around 10:30pm."

"What did you find when you returned to your car?"

"I walked back to my car to find that the backseat was covered in blood; a butcher knife and shovel were thrown into my trunk too."

"Were their signs of a forced entry or tampering to the car to make it run?"

"No."

"Are their spare keys to your car?"

"Yes. Ren had them. She keeps them on her key ring."

"Did Ren know you were at the park that night?"

"Yes."

"So you left your car unlocked in a vacant park late at night way away from you as you laid on the slide looking at the sky trying to clear your mind. Ren knew you were leaving the next day and knew you were at the park. She had a spare key to your car which could have been stolen by any shady person walking the streets that night had she left the house for any reason. What did the police say when they found you and the car?"

"Seconds later after I returned to my car, the cops arrived and said that they've been tailing my car all night and the trail of human remains leads to me. They handcuffed me and threw me in jail. When they identified the remains to be Ren's, there was no doubt in their minds that I murdered her."

"And did you, Micca Abandonato? Did you murder Ren Moto?"

"I did not murder Ren Moto. I was in the park at the time of her murder."

"No further questions your honor." Sani sits own as Teru approaches.

"No witnesses to back up your story, your word against what the police witnessed. Tell the court, what else was on your mind that night? Were you thinking about your son?"

"Yes, I didn't want to return to Italy without him."

"Is it true you lost custody of your son because you decided to drive under the influence while leaving your son home alone at the age of two?" Teru holds up a picture of the child with stitches along the underside of his left arm.

"Ren was supposed to be watching him! She blamed it all on me! She never told me that she left the house, even though she claimed that she did. I wasn't high either; I remember falling asleep on the basement couch because of the medication I was on. Her cousin claimed to have seen me get into my car and back out, but there is no proof that I consciously did this and I don't remember anything that happened after I took my medicine."

"Well, your custody hearing says otherwise. They found drugs in your system that would compromise your judgement and memory. No record of any medications prescribed to you as you say. And now Ms. Ren Moto is not here to speak for herself on the matter because her remains were scattered across Tokyo in the parks where mother, fathers and their children go to spend quality time together. And you say no one else was in the park correct?"

"Yes, I was alone in the park."

"And you arrived there around 9:30pm?"

"Correct."

"And yet a witness said you threw Ren into the car and drove away around 9:40pm, ten minutes after you arrived. She had followed you to the park and arrived there at 9:35pm. According to the police, the butchered remains were being thrown out the window into parks from 10:00pm-10:30pm until the car was found in the park where it all started. Did you, Micca Abandonato drive to the park on June 25th at 9:30pm and did Ren come to see you and anger you in some way that your insatiable rage overcame you and you forced her into your car and butchered her before scattering her remains in parks during the police chase?!"

"The man the police saw in my car and the man a bystander saw drag her into my car was not me…someone who looked like me, but not me! I did not kill Ren! I'm not a killer. I am the victim to a country that hates me, wanting love where none can be found, a child wrongfully taken from me and a girlfriend and her family who are manipulative!"

"And there it is, all the motives needed to kill her and flee the country with your son. No further questions your honor." Teru makes his way back to his seat as Sani approaches her client.

"Micca, is it true that before the custody hearing, her family was very adamant about the child staying in his mother's care in Japan and not in Italy with you?"

"Yes. On many occasions Ren's male cousins would threaten me; telling me to go back to Italy while I still can in one piece. One of her cousins is a doctor and he gave me medication for my insomnia and hallucinations, but now I don't really know what kind of meds he had me on."

"And where are these records now?"

"They are gone, his office conveniently caught on fire during the custody hearing, destroying any proof of him prescribing me medication. I am Italian; I don't fully understand Japanese, so I trusted he was giving me the right medication."

"So there is no proof or witnesses to say you didn't fell asleep after taking the medication Ren's cousin prescribed you that night, something you thought would help you sleep might have been a drug planted in your system by that same cousin to take the fall for Ms. Moto's negligence in order to ensure you son stays with Ren and not you. Does this statement match the one you made initially?" Sani presents his questioning report to the judge.

"Yes."

"And these hallucinations, have they ever made you become violent?"

"No, ma'am. It's more of an annoyance. No one would believe me if I told them, but at times I see red numbers floating in the air and blurry red lines that look like they could be letters." Teru leans forward in his chair for he is one of those who made the eye deal with the shinigami, Ryuk. Sani notices his change of posture as Bran's face flashes across her mind. She remembers the day Bran had mentioned to her about seeing her name and numbers in red above her head. Chills are sent up her spine.

"I also see a flying demon that hovers around me but doesn't bother me. He waits for something to happen, but I don't know what. Death would be my guess because I see one at every funeral I go to. The doctors don't know what it is since I had no traumatic experiences as a child, but it's been a problem since I was a child."

"And this man who claimed to see you with Rena Moto at the park, how did he identify you?"

"He picked me out of a line up by only hearing my voice."

"So he never saw your face to identify you?"

"No."

"No further questions your honor."

With no witnesses besides the police and the bystander and Micca, the jury is conflicted, some find no point in finding him not guilty because they rather not have Ren's family grieve over not ever finding the real killer and not getting the justice they seek, while some believe that he did it and should be thrown in jail for Kira to deal with him while others believe he is not guilty by seeing the truths in his eyes and that he should be able to be with his son in a country where he is more welcomed. The verdict is read:

"We the jury find, Micca Abandonato guilty of kidnapping his son, guilty of fleeing the country while facing criminal charges, and guilty for the murder of Ren Moto."

"Micca Abandonato, you will fulfill a life sentence in jail or for as long as Kira shall let you live. Court adjourned." As he is escorted out of the court room, the bystander smirks at Micca and pulls a ring out his pocket, the promise ring Micca gave Ren and the ring that was missing from her finger when her hand was found in a pile of woodchips.

"You killed her! You killed her!" He shouts to the man as he tries to break free of the bailiff's restraint. "The killer is right there, do you not see him!"

"Retrain him!" The judge demands.

Teru is tempted to write down Micca's name in his death note, but in his mind he believed every word he said knowing of the shinigami eyes and gods of death. He lets him live and waits for Kira's order. As for the bystander, Teru manipulates his death so he would reveal that he killed Ren Moto. Backlash against Kira briefly arose when Micca died of a heart attack in jail before his court date to be placed on probation for the kidnapping and fleeing the country. Groups protested for legal reform of court systems where the accused's true identity isn't revealed until conviction without a chance for retrial due to a mistrial. With the father and the mother dead, the toddler was left without a home. Sani took it upon herself to find the child a home. None of the mother's family wanted to take in a half- Italian, half-Japanese baby of a 'murderer'. She took the child to Italy in search of his paternal family and left him with his aunt and uncle.

 **Summoning**

Night is approaching and Taro and Lucca are still at the café. They managed to fill up a whole page of the death note with names be they broadcast on the TV or on the internet. Taro looks at the assignment their teacher gave them debating what he should write. Lucca still focuses on the TV that is now on a game show.

"What I believe in, huh? Well I can't say too much or Signora Donna will think I'm crazy."

"No one is crazy anymore, not after learning about the existence of shinigami and their eyes that can see things that the normal human cannot."

"True. Kira made us all aware of the thin line between life and death and that there are other beings, other forces out there that control our fates. I should put that in my paper!"

"And we're just getting started. No need to write a silly essay about what you believe in, we shall show our teacher the truth of our world and our existence." Lucca starts packing up his things and hands Taro the piece of napkin he was writing names on. Taro tucks it in the death note and saves writing down the names for later. "Well, I am heading home, we shall continue tomorrow." He heads towards the exit but Taro calls to him,

"Hey wait up!" He threw his things in his bag and the death note under his shirt, using his belt on his pants to hold it against his stomach. Belphagor floats behind him as they leave the café and walk down the street.

Mantua is a city near Verona where Romeo and Juliet was set, so many travelers pass through on their way there. The city is a historical site where the Gonzaga family ruled spreading cultural and artistic influence. It is also where the musical influence of Opera was born. The streets stay busy from early morning to late night with music filling the air, masterpieces being painted on the streets, food, drinks and drunk people everywhere. There is no curfew here even when the adults try to impose one, but there is no need since crime is scarce and everyone pretty much knows everyone. Belphagor knows that he must not make his presence known if he wants to keep his amusement going. As they walk home the boys talk to each other and Belphagor can't help but join in the conversation. Since they are only ten most don't pay any mind to them talking to an unseen third person, most just believe that they still have an imaginary friend. Taro and Lucca pass through Piazza Virgilio and see the statue of Virgil.

"Virgil, the Roman poet who guided Dante through death. The Divine Comedy, one of the world's greatest accounts of the afterlife; inferno, purgatorio, paradiso…they are all the same place. No matter what we did while alive, when we die we all go to the same place. Be it the earth then to the cosmos eventually when all life ceases to exist." Lucca makes a cross in the air by moving his hand from his forehead, to his chest and then to his right shoulder then left. Belphagor smirks as he floats above the statue of Virgil. They continue walking home as Belphagor walks behind them.

"Yes, you humans have come up with some interesting stories about death. But you are right Lucca, death is equal; unless, you are one of the lucky humans who become a shinigami when you die."

"Become a shinigami?" Taro and Lucca say at the same time.

"Yes. The more you kill the less human you become." He says as he looks into Lucca's eyes.

"Well, I already feel like a shinigami. I already have the eyes and a death note; I am just missing the wings and the appearance of death." Lucca stares back at Belphagor with the same look in his eyes.

"After they die, the place they go to is MU (nothingness). Is Mu the shinigami realm?" Taro wonders.

"Mu is a person, a place and a thing; all go there, all become it and all are defined by it. There's nothing more to it."

They make it to Taro's house first and arrive as Stephan gets home from work. Lucca doesn't live too far down the street and lamp posts light the way so Stephan finds no need to offer him a ride home. Well, Lucca continues to walk not giving Stephan the chance to ask.

"Made a new friend, Taro?"

"Yeah and it's weird. He's very much like me but cooler."

"And here you were complaining the other day that you wouldn't make friends and now you already have a partner in crime. I know its Friday but its eleven o'clock. You know you should have been home hours ago." He says to him as he opens the front door. He's holding a take-out bag with a pasta dinner in it for the both of them. He knew Taro would be awake when he got home and hungry as most boys at this age don't know how to cook.

"You have no idea." He mumbles to himself. Stephan sets his things on the table by the door and heads to the kitchen with the food to get plates for their food.

"By the way, you're cool little man. Even know I am not your father, it runs in the family." Taro lets out a giggle as he hits the button on the answering machine to hear the messages left for them.

"You have one new message." Beep. "Hey, Taro I thought you'd be home but I guess you finally got out the house. I haven't heard from you in a while little brother. How's Mantua? It looks really pretty there! I hope you're adjusting well. I'll come visit you soon. Maybe work will bring me that way. Oh, say hi to Stephan for me! Bye-bye!" Beep. "End of new messages".

"Are you not talking to your sister either?" Stephan wonders.

"No, I am. I'll call her back eventually" He answers as he sits down on the couch and turns on the TV. His threw his backpack on the ground and some of its contents are slipping out, the death note being one of them. Stephan can only see some of the covering and can't pinpoint why it looks so familiar. He doesn't think too hard about since there are many kinds of black notebooks.

It only takes a few weeks for the world to realize that Kira has returned, but this time at a much larger scale. With five other death notes scattered throughout the world countries begin to mobilize; alliances form, threats and demands are made, criminals avoid exposure while followers work in the shadows. The most mobilization is occurring in Brazil, Mexico, North Korea, Australia, and Egypt. The United States is on high alert with numerous missile and bomb threats from North Korea and mass immigration from Mexico. Egypt is starting a crusade through Africa to unite the many tribes and have them as an army for conflicts in the Middle East while also supporting governmental reform in the regions. Australia is forming an alliance with Canada and the United States to keep Mexico and North Korea at bay while exploiting their countries for resources. Brazil is punishing those who allow the less fortunate to suffer while the greedy do little or nothing about it. They are also spreading a new religion that incorporates the ideas of Asian, Egyptian and European religions with Kira at its center.

The boys and Belphagor are at Lucca's place while his guardians are away grocery shopping. They sit in his living room that has a basket full of fruits on the table; apples, oranges, grapes, mangos, bananas. The TV is on one of the many news channels covering "The Return Of Kira". Belphagor eats an apple.

"These are good! Ryuk was right. These are much 'juicier'."

"Well, that just means we need to take out the competition." Taro concludes.

"Easier said than done; L will return and he knows all about the death note." Belphagor informs them.

"Then we just have to be smarter than the Kira before us." Lucca responds.

"I know who L is and knowing him he will want all the death notes. He needn't know that we have one, but he can lead us to the other ones." Taro states.

"You know L! But how?!"

"I know people who work and worked for him, but that's classified information."

"Well, I would avoid working with the people who are trying to incarcerate us. The internet, the TV news and gossip will probably be enough."

"You two are forgetting about me. I can find other shinigami easily. And the six death notes the human own are accompanied by six death notes the shinigami own."

"Twelve death notes. And why would you help us?" Lucca skeptically says.

"The other shinigami want to destroy the human world and make it another Shinigami Realm. If World War III happens, they will succeed. As for me, you humans are entertaining and another shinigami realm would just bring more boredom. I want to make you and Lucca into shinigami when the rest are gone and together we can defeat the King of Death and rule over the human world with no restraint, no rules…endless entertainment. Since you picked up the death note, you are going to die Taro when I write your name down in it. Why not have an eternal afterlife spent with your friend? The more you kill, the more like shinigami you become, the longer you can remain a shinigami. Make this short time you call life worth it." Taro and Lucca gulp at the same time hoping their lives won't be cut short like Kira's was. Lucca regains his composure and says,

"Shinigami are no match for me. They can see me but they don't know I have the eyes because Taro owns the death note, right?"

"Correct."

"Then we have nothing to worry about. You find the shinigami, Taro and you can gain their trust while I dispose of them."

"How do you kill a shinigami though?" Taro questions.

"There are many ways to kill a shinigami, many unknown to us, but some have been witnessed. The obvious one is that if we don't kill humans and take their remaining lifespan we will die. There are laws in the world of gods of death believe it or not. If a god of death should break the law, there are 9 levels of severity starting at Level 8 and going up to Level 1 plus the Extreme Level. For severity levels above 3 the god of death will be killed after being punished. For example, killing a human without using the Death Note is considered as the 'Extreme Level'. If the god of death decides to use the Death Note to kill the assassin of an individual it favors, the individual's life will be extended, but the god of death will die. The dead god of death will disappear, but the Death Note will remain. The ownership of this Death Note is usually carried over to the next god of death that touches it, or is kept in possession of the human owner of the Death Note."

"So, we have to make a shinigami intentionally extend the life of a human or kill a human not using the death note or prevent them from writing names, but that would take too long. Can you kill other shinigami, Belphagor?" Taro asks.

"Never tried."

"Then it can be possible." Lucca believes. Taro looks at the clock to see that it is almost dinner time.

"We will figure out something. I should get going, don't want to intrude on your family dinner. "

"You just don't want Stephan to yell at you again. I don't know why you listen to him? He's not even your father."

"He's the closest thing I have to one. See you tomorrow, Lucca." Taro and Belphagor head home while Lucca heads to his room and locks himself in. He can't remember the last time he ate a family dinner and even fewer memories of his parents. Living with his aunt who is a widow, he has no father figure in his life and not really a mother one either. His aunt is always gone shopping or on dates trying to find a sugar daddy. She's barely home to spend time with Lucca and has rarely mentioned anything about his parents and their whereabouts. She told him that they abandoned him but Lucca knows the truth.

Tokyo, Japan. The National Police Force has a new division of special agents who work directly with L following the end of the Kira investigation. Many other countries have followed suit seeing that Kira isn't even as powerful as L. The International Task Force or ITF is composed of those who have proven to L: loyalty, intelligence, insightfulness, initiative, creativity, emotional strength and who have gained his trust. Many of the current members are those who were on the Japanese Task Force and the Special Provisions for Kira or SPK from the Kira investigation. Nate 'Near' River currently has the title of L and calls a meeting with those who have dealt with Kira before.

"Good evening everyone. Many of you here have realized that the Kira investigation continues. It seems that a new death note has fallen into the human world. No. More than one are showing up throughout the world again. All but one of you has dealt with Kira and the shinigami Ryuk. But all of you know the power the death note has. As before, we need to take the necessary precautions to track down these death notes and confiscate them. Please, share with me any information you have obtained thus far."

"L, in certain countries in the world syndicates are forming. Most seem to be associated with The United States, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, North Korea and Egypt." Anthony 'Rester' Carter reports.

Part of the Special Provisions for Kira (SPK), he was the man who stayed with Near at all times while the others were doing their own investigations. He even accompanied Near on his first plane ride to Los Angeles since Near refused to go alone. Among them, Near trust him the most.

"To add on to that: I have found blacklists full of names of suspected syndicate members for other syndicates to target. They also coincide with the countries with the most syndicate activity." Touta Matsuda adds.

The youngest of the Japanese Task Force before Light joined, he admired Chief Yagami immensely. He was always on the fence towards his views of Kira and the world he was creating but that never discouraged his drive to catch him. When Near revealed Light to be Kira and Light attempted to kill Near using a paper clipping from the Death Note, Matsuda was the one who shot Light multiple times feeling betrayed and manipulated after seeing how unremorseful Light was. Matsuda was going to kill him for causing the death of L, Watari, Soichiro and countless others, but Aizawa stopped him.

"L, based on other agent sources who were investigating in Australia the shinigami does not seem to be on the fence. The shinigami may be the ones leading the conflicts." Hideki Ide informs.

Shuichi Aizawa's partner during their policeman days, he joined the Kira investigation with him and chief Soichiro Yagami. Having a rocky relationship with L's unconventional methods he left for some time. He returned with Aizawa after he left for financial reasons and led a blockade to catch Higuchi, a temporary Kira, and obtain the death note. He did trust Light almost as much as his father and was devastated when that trust was betrayed.

"I think it is safe to assume that there is more than one shinigami this time and who knows how many death notes." Kanzo Mogi concludes.

A man of few words, he was forced out of his shell when he is made the manager of Misa Amane. He proved to be a great investigator due to his acting skills and grew fond of Misa despite knowing that she is/was the second Kira. When she committed suicide, he takes her death hard believing he didn't do everything in his power to prevent it.

"It is unclear if the shinigami are using humans to fight for them in some unknown war, or the humans have asked the shinigami to help with their own goals…" Halle 'Lidner' Bullock brainstorms.

Another member of SPK and former United States FBI agent; her assignment was to become a bodyguard to Kiyomi Takada, the voice of Kira.

Mello contacted Halle to inform him of his plan to kidnap Takada to aid in Near's investigation and she helps him by leading Takada to Mello's motorcycle while Matt draws the security team away, forcing Kira to act.

"Or the shinigami just might be bored and want to cause chaos for entertainment." Shuichi Aizawa believes.

Former second in command of the Japanese Task Force after L's death he never stopped suspecting Light of being Kira; he was the first one to suspect Light of being Kira. The serious one of the group with a wife and two children, he keeps the rest of them on task. Former Japanese policeman, he is now the chief of the National Police Force and leader of the Japanese Task Force. Making ends meet is no longer a struggle for him.

"The places that the death note or notes might be are too strategically placed. There may be someone or a group of people trying to rule the world, masking it behind a world war." Kiara Lawliet speculates as she stands in the room where L is transmitting the video call from.

She is a twenty year old young lady who travels around the world with L solving seemingly unsolvable crimes. She grew up with Near, Mello and Matt at Wammy's House. Roger was her main care-taker and father-figure. She hardly knew her father for his was the first L, L Lawliet who died when she was only seven years old. Four years ago when she was 16, Nate declared her a "successor of L" should anything happen to him. He gives her the letter "A", indicating the new generation of L successors. The only thing that reminds her of the father she barely knew are her dark eyes that she brightens with purple contacts.

"Thank you all for the information. I do believe there are multiple shinigami and many death notes in our world now. I also believe that both the owners of the death notes and the shinigami have hidden agendas. We must confiscate every death note that comes to our world to prevent a global war. We have to avoid shinigami detection and maybe even find a way to kill them, since I have heard this has happened before, thanks to Ryuk."

Now twenty-six years old, Nate still works with disbanded members of the Japanese Task Force and the SPK. Formally known as Near, he grew up at Wammy's House as a Successor of L. Partially raised by Watari, Roger and Sani with Mello being his biggest competition, working together they defeated Kira. Near became the new L, world's greatest detective, upon Mello's sacrifice. Roger became his Watari.

L switches his screen to a live video feed for them to see. "All of you have touched the notebook so you should be able to see Ryuk. And yes, I never burned the real one just for this occasion. Since Gevanni found the real one and allowed me to touch it first when Light died, I own the death note. I haven't used it and don't intend to, but it is nice knowing some of its rules. Surprisingly, Ryuk has been responsive to my questions."

'Ryuk, what brings you back to the human world? Are you stirring up trouble?" Aizawa hopes he isn't.

"Hyuk, Hyuk, Hyuk" He laughs. "Actually I am here to help because we have the same mission. The King of Death sent me to bring back the rogue shinigami before they mess up "The System".

"The System?" Matsuda wants more information.

"The System is the purpose behind shinigami and humans existence. We exist to coexist."

"Agents, I will contact Sani and Stephan to recruit them for the mission. With Ryuk actually on our side this time and our expertise things should go rather smoothly. Kiara and I are currently in India and we will make our way back to Japan tonight. Be prepared to start your assignments tomorrow morning, 9am sharp. Good night."

The screen cuts off and the agents head home to get some sleep knowing that until they resolve this conflict they will have few and far between. L turns to Kiara and Ryuk,

"Ryuk, if what you say is true and you want to us to help you remove the shinigami from this world, tell me everything I need to know about the death note and its rules."

"Get a pen and some paper out because it is a long list. But one thing is certain, if you want the shinigami to stay away, the six death notes must all be under your ownership and linked to one shinigami. That shinigami better be one that won't kill you and pass them onto someone else to cause more havoc. Only six death notes are allowed to be in full effect in the human world, the first six humans pick up. Any after that will have no effect."

"So we have one, so only five of the six out there are active?" Kiara deduces.

"Precisely."

"So a human is using one as a threat and using someone else to carry out their will. My best bet would be The United States since they are using Brazil and Australia for protection."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Kiara. The reason for the syndicates is to find out who's note book is a fake."

"I'd say we have a pretty good start already, this should be fun!" Kiara cracks her neck and heads to her room in the hotel while L eats a chocolate bar and plays computer games before going to sleep for only a few hours.

The world rejoices the return of Kira, while others are in fear of the ever growing influence. Sani makes her way from The United States while Stephan hopes that he can help with the investigation from Mantua. L suspects that a death note may be in Italy based on some of the criminals targeted over past weeks and tells Stephan to start his investigation there. Taro and Lucca get a hold of the blacklists after finding them on highly encrypted websites that weren't too hard for Lucca to crack. They start punishing those on the black lists while trying to follow the name trail to the death note owners. With a world map and a red pen, they mark the hometown and known residences of their victims but the scope is too large. After learning that Stephan is on the same mission, they hope that his investigations will help them know the identity of the death note owners and their shinigami.

 **Daughter**

July 2020. Already in Japan, Sani invites the other members of the task force for dinner. Aizawa, Carter, Bullock and Matsuda arrive first. Matsuda brought along a "newbie" who joined the task force shortly after the Kira investigation ended. Shou Yamamoto has been with their team for six years now, but he still acts like Matsuda when he was the rookie; unpredictable, social, empathetic and has an inferiority complex being the only one of them that hasn't work with L before or knows what he looks like. While waiting for Mogi, Ide and the arrival of L and Kiara they reminisce on the previous Kira investigation. Sani is cooking in the kitchen with Carter while the others sit at the breakfast bar.

"Wow, everyone looks so different. I haven't seen any of you in a while! I have to ask how you all have been. How are you, Bullock?"

"Single, no children, don't plan on having any. Currently, I am working as a special agent for L." Her response as she stirs sugar into her coffee.

"Straight to the point as ever. How about you, Carter?"

"Top crime scene investigator in England, you should call me Sherlock Holmes. Hoping to retire soon, I am almost fifty. My daughter just recently had her first children and now I am a grandfather to twins!" He proudly says as he chops up vegetables for a stir fry.

"Oh how nice! Grandpa already…times flying by. By the way, Aizawa, how's the wife and kids? They have to be leaving the nest soon, right?"

"Well Yumi is in college, Eriko is stressing about it and Sota just hit puberty, so it's a pretty hectic time right now. Sota needs me now more than ever but he and Eriko know how my job is. We made it through the first Kira investigation with little trouble, although the kids were much younger then." Aizawa pulls out a photo of his family he recently took and passes it around.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard trying to raise children in our line of work."

"Especially for single mothers, Sani. That's why I don't want kids." Bullock reiterates.

"Yes, I just got lucky that my family has been so helpful and supportive. I know I should be there more for them, but they are turning out ok."

"Yeah, our family is great!" Matsuda confirms.

"I'm still not talking to you, Matsuda. How can you marry my cousin? You're more than a decade apart in age!"

"It's only eleven years…besides we helped each other get through our mental health recoveries."

"Yeah, no kidding. I thought Sayu would be traumatized for the rest of her life after Mello and his gang kidnapped her in exchange for the death note. I thought you had lost it too, Matsuda after trying to shoot Light in the head." Aizawa puts his family photo back into his wallet.

"At least you stopped me."

"Well, he snapped rightfully so. When I found out my cousin was Kira and about all the people he had killed after Near showed me the death note… I would have wanted to kill him too. That was a dark time. I felt responsible for his mentality of the world by being a criminal justice major in college and prolonging his exposure to horrifying crime stories; the ones I and uncle shared with him. It was something we all bonded over, unfortunately."

"Chief Soichiro Yagami. He was like a father to me and now in death, legally he is. His birthday is in a few days. Will you visit Sayu and Sachiko with me?" Matsuda begs.

"Yeah, I was planning on it. Besides, I want to see my little cousin, Tekken! He is four years old now, right?"

"Yeah; he's growing pretty fast too!"

"Tekken…your favorite video game growing up?" Carter thinks.

"Father's name. Ironically he didn't rule with an iron fist, he was pretty chill compared to most Japanese fathers."

"That explains your maturity level back then, you've come a long way though." Aizawa tells Matsuda as he puts his hand on his shoulder. The rest of them laugh.

The doorbell rings and Aizawa answers it with Sani's permission. Mogi and Ide finally arrive passing on the news that L and Kiara are stopping in Australia to follow a lead they got. For the time being, the rest of them plan out where they should go and with whom. They have to divide themselves between The United States, Mexico, North Korea, Brazil and Egypt. Aizawa and Ide decide to tackle North Korea while Bullock decides the United States would be easy to infiltrate due to her past jobs as a Secret Service and FBI agent. Sani has always wanted to go to Brazil and wants to go with Matsuda knowing they would fit in best in that environment. Mogi and Yamamoto will head to Mexico while L and Kiara are in Australia and will eventually meet up with Stephan in Egypt. With that decided, everyone heads home, to a hotel or stays with Sani at her house.

A few days later, Sani arrives at her aunt's house with Mogi, Ide and Aizawa in a smaller city just southwest of Tokyo called Kamakura. This city has many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and is located near the ocean making it a tourist attraction. Even with all the tourism, it is a more peaceful place for Sachiko, Sayu and Touta to raise Tekken in. This place became a sanctuary for Sayu while she was recovery from trauma and Sachiko when she was grieving over the deaths of her husband and son. Sani was the one who told Sachiko of Light's death, telling her that, "his death was a great sacrifice that helped put an end to the Kira investigation." Only recently did Sachiko tell Sayu of their passing; she was waiting for the right time to tell her so she wouldn't fall into a state of reclusion again. Today would be Soichiro's 62nd birthday. They all go to one of the shrines to pay their respects to Soichiro, Light and Misa. Light and Misa were both winter babies, so their birthdays already passed, but they can't pray for one of them without praying for all of them. Sani and former JTF members know that Light and Misa were Kira and that Light caused his father's death, a secret they kept from Sachiko and Sayu.

Father of Light Yagami and brother to Sani's mother, Soichiro Yagami was the police chief before joining the Japanese Task Force. Working with his trusted former police officers turned investigators, L Lawliet, Light and Watari he was determined to prove to L that Light was not Kira. After volunteering to be confined with Light and Misa Amane, saving his daughter from Mello who kidnapped her in exchange for the Death Note, cutting his life in half by making the shinigami eye deal in an attempt to kill Mello and being shot to death- he died believing that his son wasn't Kira.

Not knowing that Quillish Wammy was Watari or who he was besides Sani's grandfather; he never made the connection she had with L until it was revealed after their deaths. This information he kept to himself. He was surprised that someone from his brother-in-law's family took Sani in after him being so adamant that Sani wasn't his daughter. He also wondered why his sister didn't leave her with his family instead, but he just figured that she had her reasons. It was most likely because his career as a cop was taking off and he and Sachiko were not ready for children yet; Light was born in 1989, Sani's mother died in 1987 when Sani was five. However, Soichiro allowed Sani to stay with his family so she could go to college in Japan for law school back in 2002.

After they pay their respects, they head back to Sachiko's home to eat lunch and enjoy each other's company. Sayu pulls out old photo albums filled with pictures of the years before Light was born, when she and her brother were young, when Sani was living with them and the years when the death note was in the human world. Sani sees a picture of baby Light with his mother in their front yard back in Tokyo. He has a big smile on his face as he watches his mother water their flowers. Sayu pulls out a photo of her and Light on her first day of school. She remembers them walking to school together feeling no fear because her big brother was by her side. Matsuda sees a picture of Sachiko and Soichiro on their honeymoon in Hawaii. He laughs seeing the chief's style-clothes, hair and glasses- back in the day. A note falls out the back of the album. Mogi picks it up and reads it aloud:

"Careful what you do, cause God is watching your every move. Hold my hand in the dark street for if you do I know that I'll be safe. Even if I'm far away and alone, I can be sure that you will find me there, this I know. You draw me close for a while, so quiet. You tell me everything. If I forget what you say then you'd come to me and tell me again. Yes, you'd tell me once again. But what happen when I know it all then what should I do after that? What then? ~Misa Amane's Suicide Note."

"Misa didn't just love Light, she worshipped him. Light was Kira, wasn't he?" Sayu asks Mogi but really addressing the question to everyone in the room.

"Yes, Light was Kira. Misa was Kira as well. Soichiro died trying to clear Light's name from suspicion." Matsuda answers for everyone that knows.

"Thank you for the truth, sweetie. Mom and I knew for a while now. I overheard a conversation you had with Aizawa." She kisses Matsuda on the cheek letting him know that hiding the truth was okay.

Sachiko hands a picture of Sani and Light at the beach when she first arrived to Japan for college to Sani. Light sits on a boulder in the water near shore- looking out to the sea in a contemplative position-while Sani gets her feet wet near the shore smiling at the camera while the wind blows her hair away from her face.

"Light had this photo on his desk in his room for the longest time. He told me it was his favorite photo of you two." Sani smiles and lets a tear fall from her right eye onto the picture.

"I remember that day. He was so curious about me and my family, England, and criminal justice. He kept bragging about uncle being a cop and how he wanted to be an investigator when he got older. He was very talkative and that was the only time he was quiet." She laughs. She thinks back to her time living with her uncle's family and life in Japan.

Winchester, England 2002. Sani is packing her things, ready to head to Japan to pursue a law degree. Her grandfather, Watari feels like it is not a good idea considering her current situation. Only a couple of years ago, Sani had a child. Watari knows that she will be in good hands with Sachiko but he feels that it would be best if at least one of her parents raise her.

"Sani, I know you have wanted to go to Japan for a long time to get to know your mother's side of the family, but now is not a good time. You will have plenty of time to get your degree when Kiara is older. Right now, she needs you-to recognize that you are her mother and not one of her caretakers. The same goes for L, he needs to be in her life more…but I know he won't stop working."

"He needs to grow up and both of you need to stop making me everyone's mother. I worked, went to school and basically raised Nate, Mail and Mihael. I can do it again, just in a different country. She will need me more when she gets older too and by that time we will have our own home, I will have an established career and maybe L will slow down. I don't want to be dependent on you or L for the rest of my life."

"Sani, your aunt has two children she already has to worry about. She doesn't need a third. There is nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom, here in England."

"Grandfather, I am going to Japan. If leaving Kiara here with Roger is easier than inconveniencing my aunt, then I will do that. I'll come visit every break and eventually move Kiara to wherever I find a job. Everything will work out, I promise." She hugs Watari and continues to pack her things. Watari knows her mind is made up and allows her to leave and to leave Kiara at Wammy's House until she is done with school. At the airport, Avon, Bran, Mello, Near, Matt, Roger, Kiara in Watari's arms send her off while L watches in disguise.

Arriving in Japan, Soichiro picks her up from the airport on his way home from work. Exhausted from the flight Sani falls asleep in the car on the way home. Sachiko is surprised to see that she came to Japan without her child, but respects her decision. Their home being not that spacious, Sayu shares her room with Sani. She makes this a temporary arrangement until she can save up enough money to get her own apartment. At first, Light didn't like being outnumbered with another female in the house while his dad works long hours but quickly he learned that she was a girl who is "one of the guys". She enjoys helping Light with homework, playing videogames and tennis during free time, watching anime and scary movies with much supernatural content and watching court cases on the TV. She hangs out with Sayu as well when they want to pamper themselves, go shopping or talk about a crush she has. Sani feels at home with the Yagamis and happy that for once she is doing something for herself; not raising the next successor of L, not taking care of their child on her own because L is always gone and not putting her life on hold for her grandpa, boyfriend and their child or any of the orphans she never adopted. She loves them all but knows she feels she must be self-aware of her own independence and self-reliance in order to help those she loves.

By the time she gets into graduate law school in 2006, she moves a now six year old Kiara with her to Japan. She gets a small apartment for the two of them. Sani kept her promise and visited her on every break she had, Skype with her and sent her presents in the mail for her birthday and holidays. Kiara grew up at the orphanage with many other kids without parents so compared to their situations, she was lucky to have one parent who was there for her. Kiara had a hard time believing that her father was real or even alive. She never saw him in person or heard his real voice. Watari showed her a picture of him when he first arrived to Wammy House. Sani was the second person he met. In the picture they sit on a bench in the yard, well Sani sits on the bench and L lies in the fetal position under it. Kiara could see where some of her weird habits come from seeing how eccentric her father is; from the way she holds utensils by her fingertips, having a sweet tooth for lollipops, likes feeling things with her face instead of her hands to name a few. Watari tells Kiara these are the only pictures of her father and that she should never show them to anyone besides her mother and him. He allows her to take a couple with her to Japan in a locked jewelry box with a fake bottom.

Only a few weeks after she arrives, Kira is born. Sani worries about L for challenging him, but she believes that he will defeat Kira and when he has to face the court, she will be the one to prosecute him. Knowing that Kira is in the Kanto region of Japan, the region where Tokyo is, Kiara knows that her father is probably doing his investigation nearby and searches for him. She confirms her thought when her mother receives phone calls from him telling her where he is staying. Secretly and periodically, Sani goes to visit him and Kiara follows. Soon, Sani notices she is being followed and scolds Kiara for being so careless.

"Kiara, what if someone caught you following me and learned that L has a family? His whole investigation would be in jeopardy! I'm already risking my life by seeing him knowing that someone we both know may be Kira. If he found out, he would use us to dispose of your father and may even get rid of us too."

"I just want to see him. Not once have I meet him in person! Why are you trying to keep me away from him?"

"He doesn't know how to love…not you, not me, not Watari. He's selfish and childish and"

"But, he still is my dad. I know he think about us, I know he asks about me when he calls, I know he loves me, he just doesn't know how to show it. That's something the orphans thought me. It's hard to love when you've been abandoned, but I love no matter what. " Kiara clenches her fist trying really hard not to cry. Sani pulls her into her arms,

"You're too mature for a six year old. You remind me of him every day." She wipes her face and leads her to his hotel room. At the door, Kiara knocks and says,

"Daddy, are you home?" She hears a commotion on the other side of the door before it finally opens.

"Hi grandpa!" She says as she runs past him to the sitting room. L gets up from the couch and turns to Kiara. He scratches his left foot with his right toes and his head with his left finger. He looks at Kiara and then his eyes shy away. Neither says a word for a good minute until she runs over to him and hugs him around the legs. He kneels down and puts his hands on her shoulders.

"You're definitely not a baby anymore. I used to be able to hold you in one arm."

"You actually held me?"

"Yes. I was there for your first year of life. I even held you at the hospital the day you were born. You were so small and so soft." He pinches her cheek. "I was so scared that something would happen to you, your mother or me. You always liked to touch my face by rubbing yours to mine which made me feel better." Kiara laughs as he rubs his cheek on hers. "Then, I knew that I wouldn't let anything happen to you or I. My job requires that no one knows my true identity or life, Kiara. I watched you grow up from afar and I never stopped thinking about you." Now that L has put his life on the line for this investigation, he doesn't mind spending some well needed time with his daughter-lowering the barrier that kept him from loving his family.

"A monster who seeks friendship but doesn't know how to love." Sani reminds him of his words he said to the children of Wammy House three years ago.

Sani and Watari let them talk all night. He shows her capoeira and martial arts moves and she attempts to preform them. She talks about her friends at Wammy House and how she thinks Matt (Mail Jeevas) should be one of his successors too. He shares stories of some of the cases he solved throughout the years and even some stories of him when he was at Wammy's house-especially the one about meeting Sani and the boy with the red eyes. This was before L knew that B's eyes were shinigami eyes and that shinigami exist. This is the one connection he used to be 100% sure that Misa Amane was the second Kira. Before L and his team obtained a death note by confiscating it from Kyosuke Higuchi, head of technology development at a giant international corporation, Yotsuba aka the third Kira; during Misa's attempt to meet Kira she had mentioned in a broadcast message to Kira that she doesn't think Kira has "the eyes" and that they should show each other their "shinigami". Confirming with Sani that B saw names and numbers above people's heads, he knew that the second Kira had the same eyes B had. When he saw Rem, the shinigami attached to Higuchi's death note, L knew his deductions were right. She only needed to see a face to kill having "the eyes". This deduction however would cut his time short with finally getting to know his daughter.

November 5th, 2007. A storm is raging outside. L sits in his room with an uneasy feeling tugging on his heart. He goes to Watari's room and he asks him what is wrong seeing the sad expression on his face. L just wants to run into his arms like he is five again, but he doesn't say a word.

He picks up his phone and dials Sani's number. It rings a few times before she picks up.

"Sani…"He doesn't know what to say.

"No, this is Kiara. Who is this? Caller ID says, Ryuga."

"Kiara, it's L. I need to talk to your mother. Please, put her on the phone."

"Love you too, dad." She sticks her tongue out at the phone and hands it to her mom.

"Yes. Do you need something?" All she can hear is the rain hitting a window at her house.

"L? Are you there?" Silence for a minute and then,

"I hear the bells."

"The bells? The church bells…are they chiming?"

"They sound sad and are getting louder by the minute."

"A funeral, did someone die?"

"I'm sorry but they are ringing for me. I guess I will never hear the bells chime and I'll miss the wedding. Will you still get married in that church, even if I won't be there?"

"L…are you proposing to me knowing that you will die soon? What happened, are you closing in on Kira?"

"Your deduction is correct. I will be leaving this world soon. Please, accept my proposal before I die. You should have gotten a ring in the mail." Sani fiddles with it on her left hand ring finger.

"I've been wearing it since I opened the box. I love you, L. Please, don't go." Tears steadily flow down her face like a stream.

"I'm afraid it's too late. Kira won this fight, but not the battle. Light is Kira. I am sure of it."

"I will make sure he is brought to justice, I promise you that."

"Thank you, I love you too, Sani. Tell Kiara I am sorry for not being around more…time isn't on my side."

L hangs up the phone and heads outside to the roof. A storm is lingering but he can't help to look at the sky. He is instantly soaked but too busy mesmerized by the dark clouds, the sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning. He listens to the invisible bells. Dong. Dong. Dong. He is listening with great focus that he doesn't realize that Light is calling to him.

"What are you doing standing out there by yourself?" He yells, but L can't her him over the rain. Light walks out into the rain so he can hear him.

"What are you doing, Ryuzaki?" He asks as he tries to block the rain from his face with his arm.

"Oh, nothing really just I can hear the bells."

"The bells?"

"Yes, the sound is unbelievably loud today." Light looks around and listens.

"Huh? I don't hear anything."

"Really, you can't hear them. They have been ringing nonstop all day. It's very distracting." He looks at the giant satellite on the roof. "I wonder if it's a church, maybe a wedding or perhaps a funeral." Light lowers his arm down finding no point in blocking the rain that soaks him.

"What are you getting at, Ryuzaki? Come on, cut it out. Lets get back inside."

"I'm sorry. Nothing I say makes any sense anyway. If I were you, I wouldn't believe any of it." He stares sadly at the ground and Light can see that L knows he is defeated.

"You know you're right. Honestly, most of the things you say sound like complete nonsense. There would be no end to my troubles if I took you seriously all the time. I probably know that better than anyone."

"Yes, I would say that's a fair assessment. But, I can say the same about you."

"Hmm…what's that supposed to mean?" L faces him directly.

"Tell me Light, from the moment you were born has there ever been a point you actually told the truth?" L stares straight into Light's eyes as his facial expression freezes with downturned eyebrows. Light response with a long answer as he knew he would but he does hear his lie,

"I make a conscious effort not to tell a lie that can hurt others. That's my answer."

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that. Lets go back inside, we're both drenched."

Not so soon after they head inside and dry off, L gets a call from Watari saying that they can carry out their plan to prove Misa is the second Kira. As he tells the team his plan, the security system goes off. Watari deletes all the information they have gathered thus far for the Kira investigation before he dies. L knows it is the shinigami and tries to warn them but before he could finish the word, Shinigami he falls over from a heart attack. His life flashes before his eyes and the bells ring loud in his ears. Light catches him before he can hit the ground, telling him not to die on him.

As L's eyes close he can see Light's facial expression go from panic and shock to an evil grin; he swears he can see red in his eyes like a shinigami. L dies knowing that Light is Kira.

Sani hands the picture back to Sachiko. She remembers that when L and Watari were killed, she knew that if she was going to help L catch Kira, Kiara would be better off in England-out of harm's way. Sachiko collects all the photos and puts them back in their proper spots. As the night goes on, everyone gradually starts to leave knowing that tomorrow starts their individual missions. Sachiko is glad that everyone was able to reunite for her late husband's birthday. She knows he is watching over them and he is proud of all of them. Sachiko wanted to join him many times but she enjoys being a grandmother. Sayu loves being a mother and the small family that she has left keeps her going. Sani can't wait to see Kiara and Near because she can feel L's spirit living inside them. Like Sachiko, she too doesn't plan on joining her first love anytime soon.

 **Circus**

Taro and Lucca meet at a piazza or gathering place in the city to discuss their plans about disposing of the other death note owners. Belphagor has disappeared for the time being and the boys don't know where he went. They haven't figured out how they will track them down or how they will be able to travel the world without supervision, transportation and the money for it all. Taro decides that it is in their best interest to seek Stephan's help knowing that he will be on the same mission with orders from L. Lucca is hesitant about seeking their help knowing that they will seize the notebook from Taro as soon as they get the chance. Taro sees no other option if they want to possess all the notebooks.

"I say we do have another option. We need to find a devote group of Kira worshippers who can help us carry out our plans. A small group of them that can provide us with everything we will need."

"And how do you propose we do that? We can't just go up to people in public and ask. There are people out there that despise Kira and may reveal our location to the police or even worse to L."

"If you are going to ask Stephan, then tell him I own the notebook; tell him that if they try to take it from me I will kill him, you, L and his team. Make Stephan keep our presence a secret." Taro is taken back by not only the seriousness in his voice, but the truth he hears in his threat. He nods his head and agrees though, more out of fear than anything else. "Then it's settled. Stephan will be our means to an end. When the time comes, will you be able to betray him and the others?"

"Yes, they will all die eventually... I will die eventually. I'd rather kill them before they see a world with no mercy. I'm sure when we are shinigami, we will have no recollection of our human life and may kill them anyways. I can only hope that Belphagor keeps his word and my ideals remain so we can be an eternal Kira-the true Kira that only kills those that need to die."

"Belphagor wants to toy with human life, making the world a more perfect place will never happen, Taro...unless you want to become the shinigami's king. I see you, Taro, you are clever. Two shinigami against one in the end; no restraint on our killing powers, no L to combat us-a world we can shape from the ashes of world war." Lucca has a devilish grin on his face as he stares at the sky with excitement. He opens his backpack and dumps maps onto the steps they are sitting on. Taro catches them as they roll down the stairs. On the maps are circles and notes of recent activity that involves mass murder and suspicious deaths.

"Where should we start, somewhere close or somewhere far? Egypt and North Korea are the closest while Brazil, Mexico and Australia are pretty far." Taro analyzes.

"I would say somewhere far and work our way back."

Ring. Ring. Ring. Taro sees that Stephan is calling him and he answers it.

"Ok, I am heading home now. Is it ok if Lucca comes too...Ok thank you, see you in ten." He hangs up. "Stephan says he is heading to the United States for a 'vacation' and he says you and I can go with him. So I guess we will start there."

"Sounds like a plan then. And so the investigation begins."

Taro and Lucca heads to their houses to pack while Stephan contacts L who instruct him to meet up with Halle in Washington D.C. In the evening their flights leaves so they can get to the states in the morning. On the plane, Taro sits between Stephan and Lucca. Lucca falls asleep quickly while Taro tells Stephan that he knows about the death notes appearing around the world and that L wants to track them down, but he wonders how he will stop the shinigami from killing him.

"Since L is in possession of one of the death notes, another shinigami can't kill him, only the shinigami attached to his death note can who is one our side now surprisingly!"

"But the rest of you are not safe."

"Well, that just means we have to be extra careful. L announced the other day that he will not interfere with the Kiras and that it is the world governments' responsibility…of course he is still investigating in secrecy."

"Since L has one, Lucca and I have one, two of the six countries are lying about having one." Taro passes his death note to Stephan so he can see Belphagor. Stephan doesn't open it so he doesn't see the names they have already written in it.

"We need to find the real ones, have them all in our possession and lock them away so no more can enter the human world. However, even with all that the shinigami can kill us and give them to a new owner. We need to find a way to kill them…much easier said than done. From my understanding, the King of Death will keep the shinigami in the shinigami realm."

"This King can't just simply kill them?"

"Even with all the power in the world, the King cannot kill us based on human actions targeted towards other humans but only by the action we take to help humans live. Also, the King cannot kill a death note user since that responsibility lays on the shinigami…a King bound by his own rules." Belphagor explains.

"Some King."

"I'm sure we can kill them when the time comes. We just need to strategize. But right now we should get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us." Stephan hands Taro back his death note and he buries it under the other items in his carry-on. He trusts that Taro didn't use it since he told him they found it a couple days ago. Turning off the overhead light, they go to sleep while Belphagor sits on top of the plane with his wings out stretched; he is amazed at how much faster a plane travels than his own wings can take him.

Several hours later, they arrive in D.C. and meet up with Halle at one of the more expensive hotels in the area. The room is only meant for two, but they manage to sneak in the boys and give them a couch to call their bed. Taro fills Lucca in on what he and Stephan talked about on the plane while he and Halle went to the breakfast bar. Lucca, determine that they can still kill criminals and syndicate members makes a fake notebook with some real pages from the real notebook and carries that around with him so he can continue to kill without causing suspicion from Stephan and the others. Taro and Lucca still want to carry out the ideals of the previous Kira, but neither knows what will happen when they have to confront L.

After they eat breakfast, Stephan lets the boys go site-seeing while he and Halle head to the White House and other major government buildings in search for a Death Note. Sneaking past guards and surveillance cameras, they make it to the oval office and confront the president directly. The secret service is surprised to see a previous member breaking into the White House. They draw their guns on them.

"L sent us, Mrs. President. We have reason to believe that you are in possession of a Death Note." Halle as she cracks her knuckles. She orders his men to lower their guns and to leave them alone.

The current president of the United States is the first Hispanic president. Many Americans feel like it is her who is allowing the illegal immigration to reach an all-time high knowing that her parents were illegal immigrants at one point; the main thing the rival president candidate focused on during the presidential campaigns. Despite his efforts trying to discredit her legal citizenship, she is now president and is trying her best at dealing with illegal immigration, trying to separate the ones who truly want to better their lives thorough education and hard work from the ones who are trying to expand criminal activities.

"I also have reason to believe that L still has the Death Note from seven year ago. Why does he want another one? How do I know that L won't become Kira? Why should I risk my country's security because L doesn't trust...anyone?"

"He hasn't used it in those seven years and has no intention of using it ever. He wants to prevent World War III-the end of mankind by mankind. L has dealt with this before and having a neutral person deal with international tensions is best. No one is safe, not with this magnitude of death notes in our word; all seeming to have their own vendetta." Stephan explains.

"The previous president trusted L, I guess I should as well. Unfortunately, we have not confirmed a death note in my country, but we have confirmed one in Egypt and possibly one in Australia. Both are helping us with threats from Mexico and North Korea. In return they ask that we not interfere with Egypt's crusade through Africa and Australia just wants protection in return due to their recent findings of oil. I suggest you go after Mexico or North Korea next to lessen the need for the others to retaliate should something pop off." The president continues to tell them that Mexico is killing all the border patrol police and immigration officers. A syndicate has the mission to kill anyone who is against the immigration so she has to support it and encourage her citizens to do the same.

Halle takes out her cellphone and calls Kiara and tells her the confirmed countries to have death notes- Mexico, North Korea, Egypt. This leaves Australia and Brazil who may or may not have one. She informs them that they will meet up with Mogi and Yamamoto in Mexico since the situation is more dangerous than originally thought. Kiara decides to set up a group of L supporters who are against the death notes being used to kill whoever the owner so chooses. Unlike the previous Kira where criminals and those that defied Kira were punished, now anyone who defies any of the Kiras or are part of their targeted area will die…unfortunately it is hard to tell what Egypt, Brazil and Australia are after for they are no more innocent than North Korea or Mexico. Stephan calls Taro and Lucca and tells them to meet them back at the hotel with all their things backed so they can head to Mexico immediately.

While on the plane, Stephan analyzes the map Lucca made of the patterns of killings. They notice that some of the areas being targeted are those that contain industries that exploit animals to test products on-drugs and make-up, circuses, zoos, labs for social experiments, etc. The trail of killing started in Mexico and spread across the world. They suspect the owner of the death note to be a person who loves animals and may be an animal rights activist. They believe that the immigration may be a distraction for their real goal or part of it in order to find out the names of the people they need to kill.

Everyone on the internet is now anonymous. Even in photos on the internet the faces are blurred out after names and faces were too easily accessed for the previous Kira to carry out his killings. Now, no one no longer wants to be recognized for anything they do, good or bad, with most people going by aliases when on the news, at work and out in public. Children are generally safe until they reach high school in which most transfer to new school so none will know their true name. Some even go as far as to hide most of their face while out in public. They only people who are at high risk of their identity being revealed are criminals with life sentences and those who don't hide their face. The world is become a place of distrust and dishonesty. More than ever are citizens in a country are obeying their leaders and are taking sides with the countries that claim they have death notes. Despite all the efforts to keep the general public out of harm's way, death tolls are skyrocketing to even greater numbers than before. People are ratting out neighbors, co-workers, friends and family who go against "The World Order".

Arriving in Mexico, they meet up with Mogi and Yamamoto who are chilling in Cancun while they had the down time. They also believe that one of the owners is in the area. A major tourist attraction would be the ideal spot to hide out and a beautiful place to relax while one has the world at it mercy. Yamamoto points to a hut with a man and woman inside it-their target. They are not trying to hiding their faces which isn't that suspicious since they are on vacation in a secluded location of Cancun, but Mogi has seen the man talk to himself on several occasions, the woman obsessing over every animal she sees and most importantly him using the death note. Lucca looks at them with his shinigami eyes to see their names.

"Alejandro Rivera and Selena Sosa, those are their names. Shall we kill them?" Lucca asks Taro. Taro and Lucca are standing ways away from the others.

"We should see if they will surrender first." Stephan says to the other adults while he catches eyes with the man who tells the woman something before they make a run for it.

"What? They know?" Halle wonders.

"Their shinigami, Kinddara Guivelostain saw me. They don't know who I am attached to." Belphagor tells them. They choose not to chase them and instead spread out to keep an eye on them. As Mogi and Yamamoto follow them, they know they are being tailed. The woman pulls out a gun and starts shooting in random directions. One bullet flies by Mogi's nose; people in the streets scatter to take cover in nearby building. A shot is fired back at them by Halle who runs on the rooftops. The man talks to the shinigami,

"Which one owns their death note?"

"The boy with the green hair" pointing at Lucca. Taro had given him ownership for the time being.

"I wonder who sent them. Why a child? They really think I wouldn't kill a child, they are sadly mistaken." They continue to run and draw their followers to an abandoned circus tent. This was the first circus targeted when the woman and man began their killing spree. Yamamoto, Mogi and Stephan block the entrances and exits while Halle slowly approaches them. A gun in both hands she points it at them. All of them have their faces concealed as a precaution.

"You see this circus, it used to be a major tourist attraction with great performers-animals and humans-but the humans mistreated the animals, neglect and abuse them. When an animal died from malnutrition or being beat to death for not performing up to par, they were quickly tossed out and replace. Killing animals for not being entertaining enough is despicable. The humans that do that deserved to die."

"We know you have the death note, surrender it to us and we will let you live." Halle aims the gun at his forehead.

"And why should I already know the names of the two boys traveling with you and the one who owns your death note, so I can kill the one boy right now if you don't remove your masks. I already wrote the first name."

"Big mistake." Yamamoto unloads a round of bullets on them, knocking the death note out of his hand and towards Stephan. The man holds his hand as it bleeds.

"You're fighting the wrong person! It's disgusting how humans kill animals for reasons other than survival in dire situations. Animals are being killed for entertainment and recreation; animals are being used to test drugs on that are meant to ensure our survival but not theirs. By putting us in jail only means that you condone this kind of behavior." Selena shouts at them as she steps in front of Alejandro.

"Don't take this personally, but we are not for or against it. We have a mission that doesn't concern you but concerns the shinigami with you." Lucca and Taro had snuck into the tent. Lucca picks up the death note and sees the shinigami, Kinddara Guivelostain. She is a scary looking one with stiches on her head and sharp teeth. Shinigami rank is 12 out of 13 on a scale of who loves to kill and doesn't think too much about anything else. Not much is known about how shinigami are ranked, but she is on the lower end.

"A human has business with me?" She laughs sinisterly. "I should kill you all out of sheer stupidity. Maybe I shall start with your friend"

"Go ahead, kill Taro. Doesn't change the fact that you can't kill me, but I can kill Alejandro with his death note." Lucca holds a pen to one of the clean pages.

"I don't care what happens to this human. If you kill him you get ownership and I can kill you and your friends since Belphagor can't do anything about it."

"True, I am willing to take that risk." He begins to write down a name and as he does Selena charges at Lucca. Kinddara charges at Belphagor knowing that he came to take her back to the shinigami realm. Halle and Mogi shoot at Selena hoping she would back off while Stephan keeps his gun pointed at Alejandro. 30 seconds left. Lucca grabs Taro and they run for an exit. Alejandro shots at Halle with the intent to kill her, but she dodges his bullets and doesn't fire back. 20 seconds left. Kinddara comes at Belphagor with her teeth but he swats her away with his bone staff. He continues to evade her attacks and without thinking of her surroundings she swings her claws. 10 seconds left. Belphagor positions himself behind Selena as she fist fights Mogi and Yamamoto. Kinddara lunges at Belphagor with her hands in the shape of a sharp and long dagger. At the last second Belphagor moves to make Kinddara impale Selena. Time's up. Selena collapses to the ground as Kinddara removes her hand from her back. Her body freezes as it slowly turns to dust. Such a violent shinigami, she wasn't able to contain her rage and accidently kills a human without using her death note. This is considered an extreme level violation and death is immediate. Alejandro is still alive after Lucca failed to write down his name or a name of someone he could picture the face of. Mogi quickly handcuffs Alejandro while Stephan closes Selena's eyes. Lucca couldn't believe that their plan actually worked. Taro and the rest of them feel bad that she had to be a casualty for their plan to work.

They allow Alejandro to give Selena a proper burial before Mogi and Yamamoto escort him to their special prison L built for these criminals in Japan. They leave the death note with Stephan, Halle and the boys and give ownership of both to Taro after Lucca gives back ownership of Belphagor's notebook; their best option is the adults want to keep their cover on future missions. Stephan calls L to get the next order. He instructs them to head to Brazil next to meet up with Sani and Matsuda but orders Halle to go to North Korea to join Aizawa and Ide. L also gives Stephan another order only his ears can hear,

"Stephan, I want you to keep a close eye on both Taro and Lucca. Having one of the active death notes, I have no doubt that they used it. There was a string of criminal killings in Italy weeks ago. I've been looking into Lucca's past after learning from his teacher that he worships Kira which is very concerning. I'll let you know what I find. In the meantime, suggest to them that they keep killing in the same pattern as Alejandro and Selena did to reduce suspicions. Say that you will go to any measure necessary to defeat Kira again. If they readily accept without hesitation I am certain that they have killed before. I want to know if they want to be Kira after all is said and done."

"Understood, L." He hangs up the phone and leaves the bathroom of the hotel room. Sitting on the couch while Taro and Lucca sit on the floor watching TV, he tells them what L wants them to do. Taro tries to convince Stephan that he won't follow in his father's footsteps, knowing how hard he and their family fought to bring down Kira. Lucca tells him that he is along for the ride being fascinated with the Death Note, shinigami and Kira. Neither tells Stephan about Belphagor, his plans for the world and Taro and Lucca after they die, or that Lucca has a fake death note with real pages he continues to kill criminals with- now he has included lawyers who help the guilty avoid jail-or that Lucca has shinigami eyes. They get some rest before their morning flight to Brazil. Stephan sleeps with a smile on his face feeling that their missions may be easier than he initially thought.

Belphagor holds onto the death note Kinddara kept on herself while Taro has the death notes he and Alejandro used. A shinigami's personal death note can never be used by a human so these ones are less threating than the ones Taro possesses. Belphagor knows that the more death notes he possesses of other shinigami, the stronger his power becomes. Having six plus the six Taro and Lucca will obtain for him will rival the King of Death's power, not in the quantity of death notes possesses but the mass of deaths committed: knowing that the energy will be channeled to him and away from the King. Visibly, Belphagor is growing in size.

 **Sacrifice**

2004-Wammy House: Winchester, England. The children of Wammy House are receiving personalized education from experts in the fields in which each of the children's talents shine. Some children are highly artistic, some have brains that are prone to absorb math and the sciences, while others focus on business and law. Many of the older residents of the first generation of L successors have become mentor, tutors and like older siblings to the next generation. Avon and Bran were that to Mello and Near. Not surprisingly, they picked up on some of their habits; Avon who loves eating chocolate and who can be very emotional and Bran who generally keeps to himself and likes to play with figurines from Gundam Wing and Transformers. After Avon committed suicide and Bran went M.I.A. earlier this year, Near -who is ten- and Mello-who is 12- are left without mentors.

For Sani, it is winter break when she returns to Wammy House to check in with everyone. Kiara-who is four- is the first one to greet her mother as she walks in the door. She scoops Kiara into her arms and they give each other Eskimo kisses. Roger is leading the children outside for recess as he passes by them. Of the three, Matt's-who's 11- face lights up with a big smile and he shakes Mello by the shoulders causing him to turn around to see her. Matt drags Mello with him to greet Sani. Near hears those two causing a commotion and turns around to see Sani as well. He walks over to her too. She hugs the boys individually and tells them to head outside with the rest while she sends some time with Kiara. After Roger is done escorting the children outside, he joins Sani in Kiara's room.

"How's everything, Roger? Has Kiara been being a good girl?"

"Of course she has. She is very…headstrong. She's very demanding I guess you can say."

"She knows what she wants, just like her father and I."

"I cannot contest that truth."

"Have you heard from L?"

"Not in a while. Watari said he is working on four cases simultaneously so he is pretty busy. How is school going for you?"

"Stressful. I'm only half way through undergrad and it feels like too much. Things will get better though, but how I wish I had L's brain right now."

"You can always come home. There is plenty of work to do here since Avon and Bran are gone now. Mello and Near need you now more than ever. Kiara is four too and has started real school. I'm sure you can teach a class here even without a degree."

"I thought only experts were allowed to teach here. I will be one someday soon I'm planning and by that time I can teach them when they are of a more mature age. Mello and Near and Kiara will be fine with how things will stay until I finish school."

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say that. Can't tell Watari I didn't try."

Sani laughs, "Not as much." Sani joins Kiara on the floor and plays with her. She is building a house for her dolls; most of it is constructed but she needs help with the interior design.

The kids easily get bored the next day; it's a foggy day in Winchester and Roger doesn't want them playing outside where he couldn't see them. Near plays with his toys, Mello reads a book and Matt play videogames while Kiara tries to work on a puzzle of a church with a cemetery. Her focus doesn't last long and soon she throws the puzzle pieces around the room and the boys do nothing to stop her. Sani decides to take Kiara, Mello, Near and Matt on a walk through the streets, trying to find something to do. They pass by a museum they have gone to too many times, a bakery packed with people stoking up on holiday treats and fresh bread, and a playground that was abandoned by all- the snow covering it. They continue walking until they come to a bridge over a waterway. Some people are ice fishing on the river while others are ice skating or playing hockey.

"Let's do that!" Mello demands knowing that Near has two left feet and hates athletics.

"Be careful on the thin ice!" She yells to them as Mello and Matt jump down the snowy slope. Near rather stay on the snow-cleared bridge than sit on ice. Sani takes Kiara with her to the riverbank and another child offers her an extra sled her family has. Seeing that he can sit and still enjoy time with Sani, Near joins them on the sled. Sani pulls the sled while Near holds onto Kiara. Mello and Matt joined in the hockey game showing their competitive sides when it comes to games. Mello and Matt decided to take on the other six boys rather than being put on different teams. They manage to hold their own with three people trying to blockade them.

As Sani pulls Near and Kiara along the riverbank, she looks around at the scenery while Kiara talks Near's ears off. Sani feel like she hasn't been here before or at least in a long time. Winchester and the places she visited frequently as a child are already becoming foreign places in distance memories. She heads back to where Mello and Matt are playing hockey to see them jumping up and down in their victory dance. Kiara rolls down the hill, picks up some snow, slides across the ice to throw it at them. All the kids join in the snowball fight, even Near who smiles for the first time since Sani arrived. While they play, Sani takes a short walk down the riverside. The fog is trying to subside as the sun peaks from behind the clouds causing small pools of light to brighten the snow in spots. Not far from where the kids are, she looks down the street and views the church-her favorite church from the backside.

In the distance she can see a figure looking at it from the side. Something compels her to walk towards the figure. As she gets close enough to see who it is, it is someone she recognizes-L. He looks at the bell tower of the church. A beam of light perfectly illuminates his face; eye closed he bathes in the sunlight on a cold winter-foggy day.

"Do you hear them, L?" In that beam of light they chime."

"No, they are frozen in time, scared to move, scared to sway from their norm-the hobby that has become a duty. They wait for the command, the use of the skills they are molded for-the next death to dong for." Sani takes L's hand and rest her head on his shoulder. Saying nothing they stare at the church together sitting on the snowy street no one drives down.

" _Who could comprehend the man who had lived his life, and had to live confronting all the lives ended prematurely, the tears of the grief stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality. How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that L's back curved under all its weight? Was it an agony so terrible as to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? Was it a feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes-L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice, but the evidence of the pain was molded into his very body."- L: Change the World_

Sani wakes up to find L is gone or rather that he was not there to begin with. A phantom who comes and gone out of her life. She lies in the snow and makes a snow angel on the side of the church. In the distance, she hears the kids calling to her. She sits up to see them running towards her. They laugh as she is covered in snow from head to foot, but then notice the snow angel. Kiara falls beside her mother and makes one too. The boys decide to build a snowman to accompany their angels. Sani gets up and picks up Kiara as they look at the boy's creation, smiling she suggests they head home. As they walk home the fog rapidly disperses and suddenly the sun was shining everywhere as the evening sun gave a great orange glow to the snow and a bit of warmth to the cold wind that blows the shimmering snow around.

When they get home, they strip off all their clothes besides their underwear and throw them into the washing machine. They take hot showers to warm their bodies back up and get into their winter themed pajamas. Matt has ones with videogame characters on it dressed in Christmas clothes, Mello has one with candy on it while Near's has snowflakes and Kiara has mistletoes. Somehow they all manage to fit in her queen sized bed that night. She can see that they are tired from their outdoor activities; Kiara keeps nodding off but tries to stay awake with the boys. Deciding not to bore them with a story, she decides to sing them a song to make their dreams tonight good ones. She sings to them as if they are much younger than they are, but despite their age they still enjoy it.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby." She strokes Kiara's head as Kiara mumbles the next verse.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true." She sucks on her thumb and closes her eyes.

"That's right, Kiara."

"Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me." Matt tries to sings but just says it instead.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly." She hugs the boys and Kiara closer indicating that they are blue birds. "Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why can't I?" She continues to hum the song until they fall asleep.

"If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can't I?" L finishes the song from the hallway as he drifts to sleep in his iconic sitting position. He doesn't sleep for long though and is gone by morning after kissing both Sani and Kiara on the forehead.

In the years following, Kiara became closer and closer with Matt, Mello and Near. Mello and Matt become especially attached to Sani and Matt even develops a crush on Kiara after seeing no hope in having a relationship with her mom. Kiara is turned off by Matt liking her mom more but she also wonders why boys tend to have an Oedipus complex and boy did he have a big one. After L died, he made it his job for her not to have another lover in her life telling her that her daughter's and sons' love are enough. For a while she stayed single, but eventually she started to date again.

Kiara paces around the hotel room, fiddling with a locket on her chest. Inside it is the only picture she took with her father when she was six. She opens and closes it repeatedly as she studies L's notes on the recent killings in Australia. Unlike the others, there seems to be less of a pattern. She feels like they are more coincidences than anything. Ryuk floats upside down while eating a juicy red apple; very loudly he smacks his lips and bites into it allowing Kiara to hear ever crunch which is driving Kiara crazy.

"Ryuk, I am trying to concentrate. Don't make me take away all the apples in his hotel room!" She scolds him as if he was a human and a child, both of which he is far from.

"So demanding; you're like Light, not afraid of telling a shinigami what to do."

"Don't ever compare me to that monster!"

"And yet you did it again; very bold of you." Kiara gives him a death glare and tenses up her face.

"Have you concluded anything yet, Kiara?" Near asks.

"All I am getting is that someone is playing with human lives randomly. The murders may be connected, deaths may have been manipulated, but it seems that this owner doesn't have a vendetta. Most of the murders are centered in a red light district know for much gambling, prostitution and criminal activity."

"Let us begin our search there then." He puts on a plain white t-shirt and plaid-blue pajamas pants. Kiara shakes her head in disappointment seeing that he will never but on normal clothes even when he is four years shy of thirty years old.

Being night time they choose the perfect time to do a stakeout of the red light district when activity is extremely high. They walk through the streets of Sydney with the backdrop of the opera house in the distance. Men whistle at Kiara who isn't wearing anything too revealing; a simple yellow shirt that ties around the neck with a white jacket over it to hide the laced back and white Bermuda shorts. Near follows closely behind her but not too closely so people won't think they are together.

Kiara spots a prostitute talking to herself as she looks around in the crowd. Not seeming suspicious at first because she is probably just looking for her next customer, but suspicion grows as she pulls out a thin black note book with white writing on the cover and heads into a nearby hotel. Kiara decides to follow her. The prostitute takes the elevator to the sixth floor and heads into the normally feared room, 666. Kiara breaks into the room next to it and luckily no one is using the room. She listens through the wall.

"What do you mean my death note doesn't work?"

"When I tried to use it the other day it just stopped working. I wrote down a pimp's name and he didn't die and he took all the money I won at the casino too." She says with her hands folded while pouting.

"I don't understand why it would stop working. I can still kill humans with mine though, so I guess I'll do the killing for you until I can figure out what happened."

Kiara knows exactly what happened, the death note the prostitute has was working before Ryuk returned to the human world. With his return he reactivated the first death note to be bought into the human world causing the prostitute's to become inactive. That's the conclusion Kiara comes up with anyways.

"So annoying but I guess you can kill him for me so I can get back my money. I need that money if I want to bribe The States and Canada for resources. Australia will become a world power and won't be viewed as a weak country with the threat of World War III."

"Out of all the countries on this planet I'd say Australia is the most innocent. Your people deserve to live though this war. Maybe live in a world with us shinigami-here on earth."

"You'd like that wouldn't you." She walks over to him and rests her head on his chest". For a shinigami, Zellogi you don't look that scary. You're not all bones either." The prostitute says as she runs her pointer finger in a circle around his chest. He touches her lower back with his non-hook hand.

"Your skin is really soft. I like soft things. Everything in the shinigami realm is so hard."

"Oh, you like soft things. I have something even softer you can touch." She lifts up her leg up the side of his body where his hook hand is. She walks sultry to the bed in the hotel room and gestures him to come and get her. He lies next to her thinking she wants him to sleep with her in the literal sense. She laughs and rolls her eyes as she climbs on top of him.

"Touch me anywhere, I'm soft all over." She tells him as she unhooks her bra, tosses it to the floor and rubs her body on his. Zellogi doesn't know what to do, but he likes how she feels.

Zellogi is a shinigami that is rank 5 of 13 making him one of the higher ranked ones. He likes soft things but hates humidity, so he enjoys the dry heat of Australia. He has killed many humans and has little empathy for them, but he does have a soft spot for this prostitute. He is one of the more intelligent ones, but right now his mind is compromised by his desire to feel soft things. He knows shinigami can't reproduce with humans so he doesn't fear getting her pregnant, but he does know that shinigami have never engaged in sexual activity before. Seeing little harm, he gives in. As he gets on top of her and thrusts his hips he fails to notice that his extended tail bone is impaling her through her back. When he finally notices, she is already dead from blood loss.

"Shinigami are not permitted to have sex with each other or humans. And what's worse, he killed the human in the process." Ryuk says to Kiara from behind as he appears out of nowhere. She jumps up and would have hit Ryuk's face if he hadn't allowed her to phase through him.

"Geesh, Ryuk, don't scare me like that!"

"There you go again." She rolls her eyes and breaks down the door to retrieve the death notes. A pile of sand covers the woman's body that's wrapped in blankets. The death notes stick out of the pile of sand. Kiara takes both and meets up with Near who is gambling with some local thugs. She pulls him away from the game he was about to win and loses the money he had put in the pot-only twenty bucks. She gives Near the death notes and tells him that it is the inactive one. L calls the rest of his team to inform them that the ones in Egypt, Brazil and North Korea are real and for them to take every precaution possible-necessary or not. Kiara and Near head back to Japan to deal with the criminal Mogi and Yamamoto brought back from Mexico. He orders Sani to return to Japan from Brazil to watch over the prisoner with him and Kiara while sending Yamamoto to North Korea with Halle to join Ide and Aizawa. Matsuda waits in Brazil for Stephan's arrival.

January 25th, 2013: a month after Christmas, three days before Light is to be discovered as being Kira, three days before his death. Sani and Kiara put away the groceries they just bought from the market. Late night grocery shopping is always the less stressful option to avoid dealing with crazy housewives fighting over food that is on sale-of course that means that they essential get the leftovers. Kiara turns on the TV to have some noise in the eerily quiet house. Kiara is fond of her new home though, it's a Spanish villa styled house in the middle of Japan having a beautiful garden surrounding the house and a balcony facing the backyard that overlooks a giant fountain; a backyard equipped with a pool to swim in, chairs to lunge in, a minibar to drink at and chess table to stimulate the brain while outdoors.

While Sani is watching TV and Kiara is in the shower, the doorbell rings. Expecting someone else to be at the door she is surprised to see Mello and Matt. Mello's face is hidden in shadow due to the hood covering most of his face, while Matt has his sunglasses on, eyes glued to a portable videogame.

"Near was right. He told me that you'd probably pay me a visit soon. What are you up to now?" She opens the door and gestures them to come inside. Matt sits on the couch trying to finish his videogame. Mello pulls down his hood exposing the huge scar on his face.

'What happened to you, Mello?"

"When I left Wammy House, I joined the Mafia in California determined to catch Kira before Near does. With their help I was able to steal the death note in the Japanese Task Force's possession only to have it taken back by your uncle, Soichiro Yagami. I wish he hadn't threatened my life and put his life on the line. Somehow he knew my name…those eyes maybe." He takes a bite of his chocolate bar and talks with it sticking out of his mouth.

"After one of the mafia men shot him, I knew I couldn't save him. To escape I blew up our hideout and left empty handed but with a scar filled face. I'm sorry for your uncle, Sani. I never anticipated him to retaliate. I'm sorry for Sayu too; I heard she isn't doing too well mentally."

"It's not your fault, Mello. I'm sure Light manipulated the situation. Don't blame yourself for his death. As for Sayu, she will recover but I don't know how long it will take."

"That makes me feel somewhat better, but that's not why we came here to talk to you. Matt and I wanted to say goodbye." Matt's hands stop moving but the videogame keeps going on without him.

"Goodbye? I don't understand."

"We already informed Halle about our plan. The whole case can be resolved if a name is written in the Death Note." Matt starts with. Kiara come down the stairs recognizing their voices.

"Yes, we plan on kidnapping Kiyomi Takada to force Kira and the second Kira to act in order to reveal the location of the real death note. This way, Gevanni can tamper with it, Near can confront Kira and bring him to justice. L won't die in vain." Kiara grips her locket tightly as she holds back her anger, her sadness, her frustration. Matt walks over to her and hugs her firmly.

"No more…I don't want anyone else to die." Kiara buries her head into Matt's chest, hugging him back tightly causing his shirt to become wet from tears.

"Live action fight to the death is a perfect way to go in my book." He tells Kiara and Sani as he comforts Kiara by rubbing her back.

"Matt, who are you kidding, you know you won't fight. When they catch you, you'll just surrender."

"Hey, you have to choose your battle wisely if you want to live another day." Sani pulls Mello into her chest. He refuses to cry accepting his fate knowing he will sacrifice his inferiority complex, his unwillingness to work with Near and his life to bring an end to Kira's terror. Sani insists that they stay the night, eat a good meal, take a warm shower and get a good night's sleep in the home of their family. Her house has five bedrooms, so they can all sleep in their own beds if they so choose but Matt and Mello sleep in Kiara's room.

Sani is still waiting for one more visitor, so she stays downstairs. She turns off most of the lights and lights some candles and the fireplace. She plays Clair De Lune on the piano in her living room and sings words to it she heard from one of Matt's videogames called Rain. She plays and sings loud enough knowing that Kiara, Mello and Matt are listening upstairs, singing them to sleep like the good old days.

"Been wandering 'round, lost in this night. Like a stranger, I walk alone through a cold and empty world. Where the rain whispers to my heart and the moonlight shows me the way." Ironically it starts raining outside, but it is gentle. A weird warming of weather in late January.

"Scared to move. Fade away, seeking to find the _Light_ that once was mine. Where raindrops talk, where moonlight knows-they are guiding me to your place." The moon is full tonight and it shines through the window on the other side of the room.

"I'll always be by your side; you bring joy to this night. Take my hand now, we'll find a path. When the rain stops we know, there'll be a rainbow. Where raindrops fall…fall." Tears runs down her face onto the piano as she uses it as a crutch.

The next day, Matt and Mello carry out their plan. Matt launches a smoke bomb from his car to make her security panic. Halle escorts Kiyomi Takada to a motorcycle telling her she need to get away fast. Mello is the motorcycle driver and kidnaps her while Matt draws her security team away from them. Mello manages to steal a delivery truck and drives it to an abandoned-ruined church with Kiyomi in the back. As expected Light orders her to kill Mello and he dies of a heart attack.

When Light confirms with her that he is dead, he uses a torn piece of the Death Note to kill Kiyomi by suicide. When Light and the rest of the task force arrive to their location, the truck and church were consumed in flames, burning the torn piece of death note paper Kiyomi used to kill Mello-Mihael Keehl. Unknown to Light, Teru Mikami thought he couldn't act, strayed away from him obsessive routine and went to his safety deposit box to kill Kiyomi too; revealing the location of the real death note. As for Matt, his death was more painful and prolonged than a heart attack. When Kiyomi's security team surrounded him he stepped out of his car believing that they would take him in for questioning, but he was wrong. With his hands up they shoot him without mercy. He falls onto his car and slides down it into a pool of his own blood. Using his last breath to smoke his cigarette one last time, it falls on his bloodstained coat and it catches fire.

Everyone watches as he burns to death on live TV- reinforcing to the public that Kira's will is absolute and those that challenge him will pay with their life. She buried her mother, buried her fiancé, buried her uncle, buried her grandfather and now she buries two of her sons-both coffins full of ashes.

 **Origin**

Leaving Matsuda in Brazil to wait for Stephan and the boys by himself, she makes it to Japan around the same time Kiara and Near do. When she meets up with them at headquarter, Near is questioning Alejandro to figure out his motives and maybe even the motives of the other death note owners. He is very uncooperative though, still filled with rage over the death of his girlfriend. Easily getting annoyed by his unresponsiveness, Near lets Kiara interrogate him, but she doesn't get much more information. Mogi and Yamamoto sit back and let L and Kiara do what they do best; both are still recovering from the long flight anyways.

"Has he said anything that could be of use?" Sani asks.

"Not much, all he said is that we were a bunch of animals for using his girlfriend to kill the shinigami and that we are not the kind of animals he was trying to save with the death note. He's useless." Kiara responds.

"Alejandro is it? I'm sure you used people to get the things you wanted and you killed those who stood in your way. I'm sure those people were probably someone's father or mother, sister or brother, son or daughter, boyfriend or girlfriend to someone," She grabs him by the shirt. "So don't pretend you are innocent when it comes to the death of your girlfriend, you are as much to blame as we are and she was. You are no better than the people who exploit those animals and you are no better than any other human on this earth, so I advise you to start talking before my patience runs out." She threatens as she opens the window to the side of her.

"Ah! Ok, ok what do you want to know?"

"Were there other people working with you?" Near asks calmly for the hundredth time.

"At first Selena and I were just trying to help our families immigrate to the States without border patrol being in the way and the public blew the incident out of proportion saying that Kira has returned and will punish those who have no empathy for immigrants. I used that as a distraction for Selena's main purpose of using the death note: to protect the earth's animals from extinction."

"You still haven't answered L's question." Kiara reminds him as Sani pulls him towards the window.

"I'm not done yet! When the other death note owners caught wind of there being more than one Kira their syndicates found Selena and I and gave us the option of joining their cause or die."

"The World Order?" L remembers what the public is calling the new Kiras.

"If that's what they are called. They want to start WWIII in order to wipe out all the 'tainted ones'."

"And the shinigami want to make our world another shinigami realm that has all the human pleasures their world fails to have." Kiara informs the rest reminding herself of the conversation she overheard between Zellogi and the prostitute.

"Who are the 'tainted ones'?" Near asks.

"That I do not know. I do know they all have alternative motives other than the major requests of their country's citizens."

Near thinks of all the reports he has read and heard over the past few months. He goes through all the threats each of the countries have made to other countries and how they might be carrying them out in secrecy. He brainstorms out loud,

"Brazil wants to punish the greedy and help the less fortunate by spreading a new religion or ideology, North Korea wants to destroy the United States by bombing it and Egypt wants to reform the Middle East by force by raising an army of Africans. What other problems would they have with the Middle East, the United States and the first "world countries?"

"Many. Food and clean water, riches and debt, oil and other natural resources, disease and medicine, democracy and dictatorship, revenge from past civil war interventions…the list goes on L." Kiara rattles off.

"Then I make it your job to investigate death related to each of those topics. Find any connects you can, any trends you can find that would fit with each country's motivations as soon as you can so we can relay this information to my agents." He says as he twirls his finger around the ends of his hair above his ears.

"Thank you, Alejandro."

Sani lets go of his shirt as Mogi takes him to a solitary confinement room. Kiara starts researching leads on the giant main computer in headquarters while L watches Yamamoto cook dinner. Sani drags her suitcase to one of the open rooms and tosses it on one side of the bed while she falls down onto the other side facedown. As she is lying there she feels something fall onto her back. Refusing to turn over she feels for the item with her hand. The item feels like a notebook but it is smaller and thicker. She grabs it and pulls it towards her face. She reads the title: "The System; Earth and Space". She sits up and opens it to see illustrations of the solar system and the planets that inhabit this galaxy. Thinking it is a mini-textbook at first, she turns the pages to see a more storybook aspect to it; seeing the earth and its origin from the existence of bacteria to plants to animals to humans.

"Near, did you want me to read this?" She asks as she turns around to see Ryuk standing behind her instead of Near.

"No, the King of Death wanted you to. Light and I received it and the King gave it to me to give to you. This is the only reason why I am helping you save mankind."

"The King of Death, I feel flattered." She says as she bats her eyes and places her hand on her heart. Ryuk sits on the bed next to her as she scooches away-a bed length's distance away. She opens the book and begins to read, intrigued by the foreign yet familiar nature of the book.

"The source of all life is Earth; every non-living thing on the planet is one being." A picture of the earth with streams of light cover its surface carrying rocks, water, air and fire in its path.

"Earth formed billions of years ago; plants, animals and humans were created much later in its life, causing a threat to Earth by stealing its energy." An illustration of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with plants and animals absorb light from Earth.

"Earth sends out diseases to control the population growth. Humans, however, became more resistant and avoided death thus their population becoming too enormous for the Earth to handle." Bacteria and viruses' energy being harnessed by humans as they draw more energy from Earth is the next drawing.

"Earth reached out to a human who could control their population by becoming a messiah. This person causes a great schism in the human population in which religion is born causing a new kind of war and fluctuations in populations." A stream of light shines upon a human with no face: no gender, race or other indication to who this person was.

"Making this human the King of Death, He as humans called It was granted the power to kill any human but this power came with limitations. He was only allowed to kill to lengthen his life and keep the populations steady throughout time." Chains wrap around the King of Death who is nothing but a ball of bones and a skull for a face.

"He was given a Death Note, channeling energy away from humans and Space to Earth and to the King of Death." An hourglass is filled with the energy of humans on the top and Earth and the King of Death on the bottom.

"A small piece of Earth becomes the Shinigami Realm that lies in the skies above the human world." A stark land lies invisible in the sky, appearing to humans as the moon.

"The King recruits others to help him and calls them Shinigami and with each new Shinigami, the King of Death loses energy to that shinigami." Bones from the King of Death become shinigami, humans who love to kill. Chains stretch out from him and to the shinigami.

"Great penalty comes to those who use the death note to lengthen the life of a human because that would mess up "The System". When this happens, the Shinigami turns into sand and returns to Earth as energy." A shinigami is a pile of sand in the human portion of the hourglass, pouring into the bottom.

"Without the energy, Earth will lose to Space, taking all the energy from shinigami and it will eventually crumble away." Light bursts out of Earth as it cracks and floats into Space, becoming nothing but rocks floating around the planets of the Solar System whose lights are shinning on.

Sani stares at the last page, processing what she just read. Ryuk was floating behind her as she read; looking at the illustrations in the book he had never paid attention to before- he wonders who drew them. Baffled, he lifts the book out of Sani's hands to examine it closer. Sani is curious too, thinking that this was the workings of Space- something too grand for humans to comprehend.

"So you shinigami live to kill humans, us humans need Earth to live, while our existence is killing Earth, and Earth uses you shinigami to live and will kill them if they mess up 'The System'. So in other words, if Earth seizes to exist there will be no more shinigami or human world. But if humans die, the Earth can live but the shinigami and the King will die. So in essence you're only helping us because you're afraid to die too…right?"

"Maybe the King of Death is, but I rather live in the shinigami world watching endless entertainment from you humans from afar or even up close. If you humans die, there goes my entertainment. If this war goes to the end, the King thinks Earth won't withstand the damage. The shinigami fail to realize that."

Ryuk hands Sani the book as she walks over to the window. Staring, outside is a city full of lights and life has a dark cloud hanging overhead. The sound of car horns blowing is carried in the wind with the sounds of train breaks screeching, boats sloshing through waves and airplane engines roaring overhead. She can see people walking through the streets going somewhere only known to them; some walk alone, some in groups while some sit on the sidewalk looking down at the ground or up at the sky.

"Hey, Ryuk. Do you think humans know? Do you think we look at the moon to get a glimpse of the place we wish we could go? Looking at the ground hoping we will be more than the dirt under the living's feet when we die…dreaming of a paradise for the pure and an inferno for the sinners knowing it's all a lie. Why must Earth sustain the very thing that's causing it to die? It's stuck in a system with no loose ties. The noose we hang ourselves by gets tighter and tighter every day and we have no one but ourselves to blame. I only wish my children's generation realizes this; that is all I pray…for them to find that inner spark-life through a collective flame."

"That I do not know. You humans were divided long before your 'Messiah' came along." He says as he eats an apple he had has in the death note holder on his leg.

"I have a feeling you'd say that."

"You won't have to worry about it though; your time is almost up…maybe that's why the King wanted you to read the book. You don't have much time to change the world; but you're the only one who can."

Suddenly an alarm sounds off causing Sani to cover her ears and Ryuk's body to get a shiver. Near was listening to the conversation for the hallway while eating a snack to give him brain power; Yamamoto had left the baked chicken in the oven for too long allowing the smell to creep into the ventilation system and the fire alarm to go off. With fire extinguisher in hand, he battles the small fire while Mogi waves a towel over the closest smoke detector to relieve all of it annoying ringing. Kiara can't help herself and dumps a big bucket of water on the fire and opens all the windows to air out their "house". Sani and Ryuk come out of the bedroom to see all the chaos going on and Near laughing at it all. Near informs Sani that he will send Kiara and Mogi to Egypt to start a thorough investigation and instructs Sani and Yamamoto to stay here with him as more death note owners are captured.

Meanwhile, Stephan's plane touches down in Brazil and on the runway is a limo waiting for him and the boys and out steps Matsuda; he views this assignment as a vacation opportunity. Taro eyes light up as he sees the wondrous city of São Paulo: the largest city in Brazil; city that is a major economic center of the southern hemisphere having the largest economy and home to two stock exchanges. The city is rich with political and cultural influences nationally and internationally with many museums and memorials as well as hosting events like the Brazilian Grand Prix, a fashion week, art biennial and the world's largest gay parade. This is the week of the grand prix and Matsuda intends on having front row seats to tone of this city's biggest events. Dressed in a sharp suit and tie, he hurries Stephan and the boys to the hotel so they can shower and change into more proper attire for such an event. The boys know that a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers should suffice since this is a high speed sporting event with fast vehicles and not horses carrying the weight of their fancy jockeys. Matsuda informs Stephan that he has been tailing this woman who seems to be from new money so not many know much about her past or what business she makes her money from.

"She's suspicious because when she started infiltrating the elite class of the city, some of them have been killed. Oddly enough though, it is no one she has communicated with, but the rivals of the victims are still alive."

"Meaning that she is getting the inside scoop on these high rollers and is killing them off in a way that would lead other to think their rivals did it." Stephan concludes.

"The target's name is, Juliana Dulce. Many believe she made her riches in the food industry- succulent sweets in particular." He pulls up a website to the homepage of sweets shop called Succulent Sweets. "A major portion of their proceeds goes to worldwide hunger relief efforts."

"Steal from the rich, give to the poor." Lucca says to them remembering one of the demands of Brazil.

"Sounds like our woman then! Let's get her." Taro throws a water bottle and a tourist guidebook to Brazil he was given at the airport in his backpack as he and Lucca walk to the door.

"Hey, hold on. Who said you kids were coming with us? You two need to stay at the hotel." Matsuda demands.

"Yeah I agree with Matsuda, it can get pretty crazy here, especially with an event of this size going on. If we need you or Belphagor's help we will let you know." Stephan tells the boys as he escorts them back to the couch and away from the door.

"Besides there is plenty to do around here; a pool, an arcade room, a gym, a sauna, a nightclub for kids, plenty. Enjoy your vacation while we are working."

"Working…attending lavish parties and driving around in a limo sounds like a lot of work to me."

"Hey, you got to play the part of a high roller to catch a high roller." Matsuda puts on his shades and pops his collar. "You're just bitter because you missed all the fun." He claims as he tilts his sunglasses down and winks at him. Stephan rolls his eyes as he heads out the suite.

Heading to the racetrack, they walk through streets filled with entertainers, artists, musicians, merchants, food vendors, tourists and locals. Every day since Matsuda arrived in Sao Paulo it has been one big long and grand festival. He is already becoming familiar with some of the locals and tourist at and around the hotel he is staying at; a Japanese immigrant who owns his own noddle shop, a Brazilian woman who runs a beauty salon, an African man who's a fisherman and a Portuguese man who sells fine jewelry. These four people are not only very charismatic and knowledgeable about their crafts, but they are well known gossipers and not as well known-excellent sources for criminal activity in the city. They know the inside scoop of everyone who comes and goes from the city everyday by placing their people among all groups residents and visitors. The Portuguese man who sells the fine jewelry goes by: "P".

He was part of the first generation of L successors. Currently on the third generation, the first two generations are young adults or well into adulthood and have spread out all over the world-all 48 of them take away a few that have been killed, died or committed suicide. Matsuda admits that he was doing most of the work narrowing down the suspect list as more elites were killed while other stayed alive. Juliana was very kind to the fisherman who would give orphans food free of charge and the beauty shop owner who'd give them free hair washes, but she would glare at P and the Japanese man for reprimanding the orphans who attempted to steals their goods. Luckily for those two they always wore sunglasses and sunhats.

P is accompanying Matsuda and Stephan to the grand prix and an after party at his residence. They sit not too far away from Juliana who sits with some big named people of the food industry of Brazil and other foreign countries.

"She is going to try to make a deal with them tonight at my party. If one or more doesn't agree and they end up dead, I think it is safe to say that she is our girl and needs to be taken in." P thinks.

"But the shinigami, how will we know where it is and how to kill it before it kills us?" Matsuda whispers to Stephan.

"We need Belphagor to come with us. We need him to lure the shinigami away." Stephan calls Taro to let him know the plan.

That night at P's mansion, the three men keep their distance from each other as they stakeout the party. Taro and Lucca snuck in with Belphagor who floats around the party looking for a shinigami. P surrounds himself with the prettiest women guest he can find, Stephan hangs around the bar starting conversations with anyone who sits down and Matsuda by the pool with a golddigger who believes he has a fortune. Taro and Lucca hide by the pool house waiting for Belphagor to give them the signal to move in; they have come up with a plan of their own to deal with the shinigami. Seeing Juliana, Belphagor sees that she owns a death note by not being able to see her lifespan, also seeing that her name is Juliana Guicy and not Juliana Dulce; either would be a good name for a seller of sweets. Flying overhead, he spots a shinigami in the fruit fields behind P's mansion. Getting closer, he is able to identify the shinigami as Calikarcha.

Calikarcha is a shinigami with multiple eyes that go up the sides of his face-eight eyes to be exact, but he is missing two. A shinigami who kills on occasion who isn't very smart, curious or takes much action he has a rank of 11/13. He does go down to the human world frequently to taste the sweetest fruit he loves-no, not apples but blueberries-but only at night because he hates sunlight. Right now he is stuffing his face with blueberries while his owner is inside the mansion. Belphagor couldn't help but to laugh at him for having blue stains on his skull.

"Calikarcha, you look pitiful. You're just as bad as Ryuk with apples, no worse." He turns to Belphagor and wipes his mouth.

"They are so good though. I want to try the apples next and then chocolate, Sidoh said chocolate was really good." He tells him as he begins searching for apples.

"Hey, two of your eyes are missing. You didn't give them to a human, did you when you made the eye deal or to a newborn?"

"Ha, what are you talking about? You're such a newbie. Every shinigami knows that the eyes are granted by the death note. The humans that are born with the eyes are the descendants of a human whose shinigami died and their death notes lay unclaimed in the human world."  
"So those born with the eyes in a sense own a death note?"

"Yes, that human took ownership over the shinigami's death note when it died and when that human died it was passed on to the next of kin since their wills include all their possessions."

"Well thanks for the information; I'll keep that in mind when I encounter such a human. So where are your eyes then?"

"Let's just say that the King got very mad at me for one little tiny mistake I made many, many years ago." Belphagor smirks as he has stolen two more of them without him noticing.

"Makes sense since a shinigami's eye is the single most important thing we have. Without them we couldn't kill humans! Lucca , Taro now!" A blinding light illuminates the fruit fields and Calikarcha screams.

"Ah, what the hell is this, Belphagor!" He yells as he closes his eyes.

"I have some humans who want your eyes."

Taking his bone staff and starts pounding at his skull, breaking it to expose the many eyeballs it contains. Taro runs to them with a bag and puts the eyeballs in them as Belphgor tears them out their sockets. Calikarcha claws at Belphagor but he doesn't let up on his attack. Kicking him away, he runs through the fields blindly. Lucca keeps the light on him for Belphagor to follow him. He only has three eyes left intact. The guest notice the light and rush to the front yard thinking they are under attack and/or the police has come to bust many of the guest with dirty money. However, P runs towards the light with Matsuda while Stephan tracks Juliana who is sneaking her way to the backyard with some of the more curious party guests.

"Where is he, Lucca?" Taro texts Lucca.

"I lost him, do you see Belphagor?"

"No…oh wait look up!" The shinigami have taken flight, Calikarcha only has one eye left and uses it to see where he is going.

"What is he running from?" Juliana is confused to what is going on. She is trying to follow him by foot.

"Juliana, we know you have the notebook, hand it over and we shall spare you!" Lucca announces using a megaphone he found in the pool house. P and Matsuda slowly close in on Juliana as she tries to find the source of the voice. She plows through bushes of fruits and follows the light.

"Confirmed, she has the notebook in hand. Take her down before she finds Lucca." Stephan tells Matsuda when they cross paths.

"I'm on it!"

"Where's P?"

Matsuda points to the sky to see a helicopter approaching; P and the fisherman who is also a pilot search for Juliana by air, ready to take her down. The light that Lucca is operating and the light form the helicopter eventually focus on one spot; Juliana has come face-to-face with Taro as Belphagor and Calikarcha stand behind their respective human.

"Give me back my eyes, Belphagor!"  
"Nah, I think we will hold on to them for a while." He response as he tosses one up and down from his hand.

"What do you want, kid? Why do you stand in my way?" Juliana has a pen in one hand and her death note in the other.

"You're death note will be mine, there will be only one Kira in this world and that is I, the chosen one. You and your shinigami are making a mess of things, prompting more bloodshed than necessary. You are causing this world to rot, you and the people you killed."

"Just because you are a kid, you are far from pure. You will grow up and become like the people you kill to protect yourself. Do you really think the others won't kill you just because you are a kid…you're giving them more of a reason to because you are the future, the future we don't want!" She pulls out a gun and aims it at him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Belphagor is the only one who can kill me and if you kill me, he can kill you and finish off your shinigami."

"You're right, but I can kill your friend!"

She shoots past him at Stephan hiding in the bushes, he get hit in the shoulder as the bullet grazes Taro's cheek. Matsuda shots at Juliana hitting her mask off her face. Lucca was hiding in the bushes too, waiting to see her face.

"Write it, Juliana Guisy!" Lucca tells Taro as he tackles her and knocks the gun away. Taro starts to write the name as Belphagor attacks Calikarcha stealing his last eyeball.

"Sorry, Calikarcha, but you served your purpose and now you are nothing without your eyes." Belphagor holds his last eye in his hand as Calikarcha turns into sand.

"Don't write it, Taro! We need to take her back to headquarters!" Matsuda commands as he runs to Stephan who is putting pressure on his shoulder.

"I know, I didn't write it." He shows him the page. Lucca grabs Juliana's gun and dismantles it

P and the fisherman handcuff her and bring her back to the hotel with the boys while Matsuda takes Stephan to the hospital. Lucca puts the death notes with the other two from Mexico. Taro sits on the couch ready to go to the next country, hoping that Stephan is okay too. The hotel phone rings and Taro picks it up.  
"Hello?"

"Is this Stephan or Matsuda?" the female voice says.

"No, this is Taro. How is this?"

"Taro! Oh my God, your voice sounds so different on the phone! I know it isn't dropping already."

"Kiara?"

"You got it, little brother! Well since you picked up, mom says you and Lucca need to stay at headquarters with her and L. She doesn't want you two in Egypt and North Korea." In the background he hears his mother ask for the phone.

"Taro, how are you sweetie?" Her reply was the dial tone of the phone being hung up. Lucca sees that Taro is mad about something.

"Who was that?"

"My mother."

"You don't like her?"

"I hate her. She led my father-Kira to his death."


	2. Part 2

**Death Note 2020-Part 2**

 **Choices**

"Wait, Kira was your father?"

"Yes, his name was Light Yagami. She has never mentioned my father's name but we share the same last name."

"How do you know Light Yagami was Kira?"

"I read about him in the reports my mom had kept from the investigation. She didn't hide them too well. My mother, Stephan and L-no Near exposed Light to be Kira. Exposed, a shinigami named Ryuk killed him."

"Why don't you hate Stephan?"

"Sani betrayed the one she supposedly loved. Stephan had no connection to him. At least he is taking care of me too. Sani is too busy working with Kiara and Near to pay any attention to me."

"Sani..." he says to himself. The name sounds familiar to Lucca but he cannot pinpoint why. "She probably doesn't want to see your face because you remind her of her sin."

"The sad thing is I really don't look like him though so she can't even use that excuse." He looks in the mirror at his dark almost black hair and dark brown eyes-both darker than Light's.

"Well, at least one of your parents is still alive and you have someone that is taking care of you that isn't a promiscuous drunk. Goodnight, Taro." Lucca curls up on the couch under a blanket while Taro continues to look at himself in the mirror, seeing his face as Light's. He holds his head as a headache arises from him not understanding why his mother would kill her husband- the man Taro worships even in death, why she didn't embrace his ideals and most importantly why didn't she love him or Taro enough to save his father's life for his sake.

Japan 2007. Sani approaches the graves of L and Watari the Kira investigation team had made for them without anyone else knowing; they wanted the world to think L was still alive for they didn't know about his successors. She thought they had all left but she quickly hides behind a tree seeing that one person remains. His back is to her but she can hear him. He seems to be laughing to himself hysterically. She can't tell if he is truly distraught or elated. And then he talks to himself quietly at first and them loudly.

"Now everything...my way...gone. Everyone... believes... me. It's only... time before... rid... police." He's on all fours shouting at L's gravestone now.

"What do you think of that, L? This is my perfect victory! That's right, I win!" A devilish smirk and raging eyes show on his face, an expression Sani can't see but can feel. She gets closer to hear what his is saying as his voice level lowers.

"Did you say that you no longer have anything interesting to look forward to, Ryuk? Well, that won't be the case." He gets back onto his feet. "From now on, I will show you the creation of the new world."

He walks away, his hair still shrouding his face. Sani knows he must be Kira; a man in a suit with short light brown hair, a brilliantly-masked dark disposition who talks to an invisible being named, Ryuk. Knowing that Light was L's main suspect of being Kira-this chance encounter proved to Sani that her cousin was deceiving them all.

Confirming that this was L's and Watari's graves, Sani contacts Roger to have them moved to Winchester. Sani makes a plot for them in the graveyard behind the church with their names and dates of birth and death on the gravestones. She gets them ready for the proper funeral tomorrow morning with many of his successors, current and past children of Wammy House all coming to Winchester to pay their respects. She engraves epitaphs on each; Quillish Wammy, 1936-2007, Famous inventor and father to all the children of the Wammy House. Linkin Lawliet, she puts to not draw suspicion from the one letter first name, 1982-2007, justice for all the children of the world who are free to choose their own path. Surrounding their graves with flowers she talks to them for a while, her tear droplets on the petals and leaves of the flowers. A man approaches her from behind as she stands up to wipe off the dirt and grass from her skirt and tears from her eyes.

"Linkin Lawliet? So that is L's real name? He says. She turns around hoping that Kira hadn't followed her here after the press release about Watari's death and Wammy's House for the gifted. Despite having a suit on, seeing the man having semi-long dark brown hair and dark eyes and a familiar face she is at ease.

"How do you know L?" She asks.

"You mean you don't remember me, Sani. We grew up together; even of it was only for a short time." She looks at his face closer trying to picture him as a child. Slowly a name comes to mind.

"R-ei..ji? Reiji Namikawa!"

"That's right." She gives him a big hug with her head to his chest. Caught off guard, his arms are trapped in her grip.

"It's been so long, I haven't seen you since your parents found you." She says as she looks up at him.

"A little late since I was already fifteen, but I know; it's been almost fifteen years." He smiles as he looks down at her being taller-he being 5'9" and she being 5'3".

"Yes, you left when Bran came. You are a little older than us; that's why I don't remember you as well."

"For not remembering me, you are very comfortable with hugging me." Sani releases her embrace feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry a familiar face of someone who is alive is the most comforting thing I need right now." She sniffles. "Have you kept in touch with the others or Roger?" A tear falls from her eye and Reiji wipes it away.

"A few, but I have been busy with establishing a career. It would seem I picked the wrong company to work for though."

"Oh, thank you." She takes her collar of her short to clean her face. "Where do you work?"

"Have you heard of the corporation, Yotsuba?"

"Yes, that's a corporation in Japan right? I haven't heard anything to good lately, though. The rumor is that Kira helped them eliminate their competition."

"It's more than a rumor, it's the truth…one of our top members was Kira, but L helped us regain control over our company. I even spoke with him and we both thought Kira to be the same person. No wonder I earned the title "I'."

"Roger told you that he died?"

"Yes, there are only a few of us from the first generation that keep in contact with him. He also informed me that I'm not in the running to succeed L any longer. Apparently two kids from the fourth generation are the best candidates." He shrugs his shoulders feeling indifferent.

"Mello and Near…those two are something else. It sounds like you have a bright future ahead of you! Well, I'm happy I got to see you again. I live in Kyoto now, but if you ever want to get together for dinner or something- let me know." She tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles at him.

"Oh, of course. I don't know how much longer I'll stay in Japan; I may join my father at Yotsuba's United States branch. He is president there and hoped I'd become the president at the one in Japan, hmm... well, we'll see. I'll see you around though, Sani." He bows to her and she bows to him. As he leaves to meet with Roger he notices much space in the plot for more graves; little did they know that Mello, Matt and others would find their resting place here in the years to follow. Not soon after L's death, Reiji Namikawa was buried behind L; Kira had killed him too. At his funeral with her hair concealing her emotions, holding Kiara's hand with one hand and her other hand in a fist tells it all, she swears that she will capture Kira no matter what.

Reiji Namikawa was the vice president of sales at the international corporation called Yotsuba whose headquarters was in Tokyo. Naturally, being a leader of sales, his social skills were one of his best talents but he also was a highly skilled Shogi player (Japanese Chess). Sani was the only person to ever challenge and beat him at Wammy's House. Briefly before L's death, Light had given ownership of his death note to Kyosuke Higuchi to turn L's suspicions away from him and Misa and to another Kira; eight men where part of the meetings that decided who Kira would kill next. The catch is that none knew who possessed the death note so they had to participate in fear of Kira killing them.

Eventually Reiji wanted to know which one of them was Kira after L had contacted him being almost certain that Reiji wasn't Kira. Ruling out Hatori after being killed first because he didn't want to participate in the meetings, Kida because he contacted another detective that rivals L to help them take down Kira, Mido and Shimura after they revealed to Reiji that they weren't Kira, they narrowed it down to Takahashi, Ooi or Higuchi. Knowing that one of the three is known to be obsessed with money and status they all agreed that Higuchi had to be Kira. The "L" at the time, Light Yagami, was tricked by Reiji to reveal that he and his team also thought Higuchi to be Kira. Soon after their meeting, the real L carries out his plan to apprehend Higuchi and was able to discover how Kira was killing people-the death note and the shinigami attached to it. Taking it in his possession, when Light was allowed to touch it to see the shinigami, Rem- all of his memories returned at once. When an owner of the death note gives ownership to another, until he or she touches the notebook again, they lose all their memories of association with the death note. Light had done this when he relinquished ownership of the Death Note to Higuchi; all part of a broader scheme.

With Higuchi dead after Light kills him, Yotsuba's remaining members had to clean up the mess he made, slowly regaining the trust of other major international corporations. When Light was able to get rid of L, he killed anyone who knew about the death note-meaning all the Yotsuba men. Setting their death dates six months after L's, as they were about to start a new beginning for their company one by one they fell to the ground of the meeting room-all dying from heart attacks seconds after the other. However, stories of more brutal deaths surfaced soon after. Sani read three in particular; Mido jumped off the roof of Yotsuba to his death, Shimura stood on train tracks without hesitation, and Reiji was involve in a fatal car accident. Sani feared she'd meet the same fate if she confronted Light and so she decides to continue her education and waits for the right moment to take him down; hoping she can work in the shadows and L's true successor will end the accursed's madness.

Kyoto 2008. Sani returns to Japan with Kiara to continue law school at Kyoto University; she is in her second year. While in law school, she quickly learned how Kira has influenced court systems and most lawyers are afraid to be a defense attorney to those that the public thinks to be guilty and prosecutors against those who the public thinks as innocent. In both cases many lawyers have witnessed Kira past judgment on all parties involved, but Sani sees them as coincidences knowing that Light only kills criminals…and those in his way. Sani also quickly learned which future lawyers not to trust- all of them. Many stir up drama inside and outside the courtroom and Sani avoided it the best she could. For the most part she keeps to herself feeling out of place being three years older than most of them since she started school when she was 20.

On a short lunch break between classes she sits on a ledge on the roof of the library and eats Ramen noodles. She burns her tongue multiple times trying to scarf down the food quickly. She fans her tongue and gulps down cold water. She pours some of her cold water in the noodle cup to cool it down but it dilutes the flavor. She hears a faint giggle in the distance as she tosses the noodles and eats an energy bar instead. Thinking she was alone, she scopes out the area to see a man reading a newspaper pretending that he wasn't watching her amusing antics. She pretends to walk away but she sneaks up behind him to see what he is reading.

"You're definitely a law student. Reading up on the latest criminal news I see." He calmly lowers the newspaper and turns around to face her.

"A superior student is always learning, even on break. Today I learned that even some adults still don't know how to eat noodles. Although, you don't look Japanese so I guess that's fine."

"For your information I am Japanese; that's one of the races I do know that I am." She says with one hand on her hip and the other hand's fingers snapping in a Z-formation.

"Black or African is another one I assume." He turns his attention back to his newspaper.

"So you're just going to make a snide remark and ignore me now! What are you reading that's so important?" She snatches the newspaper out of his hand.

"I scare myself sometimes." He says with his chin resting on his hands contemplatively. Sani reads the list of criminal's names that Kira has judge and even some corrupt businessmen- the Yotsuba members were among them. "Many of the people who I thought Kira should delete-were. I want to believe it is all a coincidence." He stands up and turns to Sani. "I don't know why I am telling you all this. Looking into your eyes I can see the pain injustice has caused you."

"You're right. Many of my loved ones have died without their killer being brought to justice." She hangs her head down, but the man raises it back up.

"Fear not, Kira will make all right. He has already proven to me that people will pay for their sins and divine judgment will be passed on them. This truth has been proven again and again to me since I was a child. Justice will prevail." He smiles at her thinking of the days where the bullied overwhelmed the bullies in grade school, when three of the worst bullies in his high school were killed in a car crash and even when a bystander-his mother got hit by their car and died. His mother didn't want Teru to get beat up at school every day for standing up for what he believes in- justice. She told him to give into peer pressure to keep himself safe from the violence-beatings meant for other kids.

Sani's mixed feelings about Kira arise again. She knows his intentions are good but the way he has gone about it is evil. But then she wonders if her mother had left her with the Yagamis from the start, would she support Light and be a devote follower like this man? Intrigued by this man, she puts herself in his mindset.

"You're right, again. I want to become a defense attorney to keep the falsely accused and those who can be reformed out of jail. The court system needs much reform as much as the law does." She folds the newspaper and hands it back to the man. He sets in on the bench behind him before facing Sani again. He puts his hands on her shoulders; caught off guard by his gesture, a shiver runs down her spine while her heart skips a beat.

"We can reform all together. I have two more years of school before I can begin my career-my lifelong mission. Will you join me…?"

"Oh umm, Sani, Sani Lawliet." She steps back and extends her hand.

"Teru, Teru Mikami" he copies and shakes her hand.

"You can call me Teru, though." He tucks the newspaper into his bag and heads down the stairs as Sani gathers her things and follows behind him. They walk to the law school building side by side. Teru notices she has a ring on her left ring finger and she simply tells him the truth, "He died before we could get married." They arrive at the building but head to different classes, but before they part ways Teru makes an offer.

"I live in an apartment complex not too far from campus. Yoshiashinmachi: apartment number 1012. You should come over sometime-I can cook you a more traditional noddle dish."

"I may take you up on that offer, Teru." She smiles and heads to class. She thinks to herself, he has a weird way of flirting but then again his social skills are on about the same level as L's. And for this reason, she finds herself attracted to Teru- intrigued by a familiar oddity.

As Sani goes deeper and deeper into a relationship with Teru, she learns his views on many things; how he believes that it is harder to reform a person as they get older, those who have no reason to exist is a threat to those around them, wanting to be a prosecuting attorney to pass judgment on criminals so Kira can "delete" them and that evil will be "deleted." Things he took to an extreme when he obtained the death note years later. She also sees how hard it would be for him to have a child in his life. He lives a very schedule-orderly life; going to the gym certain days at certain times for a certain amount of time, when he goes to the bank, what time he wakes up to get ready in the morning and how long it takes him and especially how neat and orderly he keeps his apartment. For the time being, she keeps Kiara a secret until she can decide on if she wants him to be involved in their lives and he want to be involved in Kiara's as a father. The one thing that she changed in this routine was what time he went to sleep with varied by how long they stayed out on the town and how long they stayed up fooling around.

Kyoto 2009. At one point, Halle came to visit Sani with Mello from the States; at the time Mello is only sixteen and Halle took the role of being his "legal guardian" really letting him do what he wants. Sani always saw their relationship as a little weird since she knew both liked each other on a much more loving level beyond just "mother " and "son" despite being ten years apart and Halle being Sani's age.

When Halle joined the Kira investigation she made it very clear that she wasn't on Near or Mello's side- she just wanted to catch Kira for killing a relative of hers. While investigating Kiyomi Takada, she would leak information to Mello on her own an eventually by Near's request as well. She did know Mello before Near however, but Mello was too young to remember anything before Wammy House.

She tells them how intense Mikami's beliefs and feelings about Kira are and if she should be so involved with a man who believes Kira to be God. Mello suggest that she stick with him just in case he finds some use for him in the future to catch Kira before Near does and Halle agrees. Contacting Near as well, he suggests the same thing and tells her to encourage Mikami to attend events where Kira will be watching and maybe Kira will pass his power onto him. Not even knowing it then, their plan was already set in motion and Kira did eventually notice Teru Mikami when he started to frequent TV programs for debates and public opinions on Kira on the infamous program known as "Sakura TV' and later by "Kira's Kingdom."

Summer 2009. Being on break from school, Sani thought it would be the perfect time for Mikami to meet her daughter-but first she needed to tell him about her. Just recently Mikami had asked her to move into a new apartment with him and she hasn't told him yes or no yet. At this new apartment they eat dinner quietly. Sani is hoping to start a conversation in which she can tell him not so abruptly but he is quiet tonight-waiting for her to say something. So she does.

"Teru, remember when I told you I was engaged when we first met?" She says as she looks down at her plate trying to cut her chicken breast.

"Yes. But you said he died…don't tell me that was a lie." He leans over the table and grips her arm so she'll stop cutting her meat. She looks at him in the eyes.

"He did die, that part is true but I haven't been completely honest about my past relationship." He scrunches his eyebrows as he looks in her eyes trying to find out the truth before she says it. "We did things backwards I guess. I have a daughter and her name is Kiara. She is nine years old. She's over my aunt's house most nights so that is why you never meet her when you came over." Removing his hand from her arm, he sits back down in his chair. "Do you think you can handle someone else's child in your life?" He folds his hands together in front of his mouth and close his eyes as he takes a deep breath through his nose.

"Why did you wait this long to tell me something as important as this?"

"I was afraid to ruin something good before I realized what this was. I know having a child in your life is a big change, but I'm hoping you a willing to make that change for me. I love you, Teru." She sets hands on the table palm-up as if she is pleading her case. He sits back and folds his arms, looking away from her.

"No, if you love me you'd know me by now. I can help guide her, but I know I am not ready to be a parent." He looks back at her. "Children are our future. I can't raise your child- you have that responsibility. I know the father has passed, but you need to do everything in your power to make her a model citizen; even if that means putting your life on hold!" He slams his hands on the table as he knocks his chair back. "Do you really think _we_ can raise a child properly with our careers!? You already devote so much time to school and I, but none for her." She hangs her mouth open unable to respond. "Who knows how damaged your daughter's life already is if you're here all the time, your aunt is raising her and her father is dead!" She puts her arms around her stomach as she hangs her head in shame-soaking the floor and table with her tears. "She'll end up as one of your clients one day; you'll defend the guilty and lose her to Kira's will! Is that what you want?"

"How…dare…you. How dare you judge my daughter- you don't even know her! How dare you call me a bad mother!" Her eyes are filled with rage as she slams her hands on the table and knocks over her chair.

"You're the one who said it, not I. Now, get out. If you really love me…no if you really love yourself and your child-you will leave." He turns away from her and jerks his head in the direction of the door.

"So that's it. This is how you want to end it?" She asks him as she walks to the door. He walks off to his bedroom and locks the door without saying a word, without knowing if she left or not. He runs water in his bathroom sink as he looks at himself in the mirror. He knows where his job can lead him especially in a world where Kira and those against him still exist. He doesn't know if Kira will prevail and Teru will be a hero to his people or if Kira will fall and he will be killed for believing Kira to be God. Either way he will be guilty by association and he doesn't intend on straying from the path he has set for himself-no matter who comes in and out of his life, no matter the consequences of his actions. In the mirror he sees himself fixing his tie as a prosecuting attorney but behind him is height bars used in mug shots. With an emotionless expression, he can feel his heart hardening.

January 25th, 2013. Matt and Mello are in Kiara's room. Matt is hunched over the side of her bed loading his smoke bomb gun while Mello is researching the schedule of a delivery truck he can use to kidnap Takada on her laptop at her desk. Kiara's arms are wrapped around Matt's waist as she uses his butt as a pillow. Mello's motorcycle helmet lies next to Matt's car keys on Kiara's nightstand. Down the hall, Sachiko Yagami leaves a bedroom in her pajamas. She tells Kiara and the boys goodnight before heading downstairs to tell Sani she's going to bed. She pays no mind to Kiara having two clearly older boys planning on sleeping in her room. Downstairs, seeing Sani with her head on the piano's keys she rubs her back and asks her, "What's wrong, my niece?" as she puts on her coat.

"Just tired, auntie. Thank you for watching him for me today. I won't make this a routine I promise."

"Oh you know I don't mind. I love the company. Little man and I visited Sayu today. He really helped her smile again today-even if it was just a faint one."

"I hope she recovers quickly." Sani hugs her goodnight.

"She will, I just know she will." She smiles and heads to a guest room one the first level of the home.

Sani sits on the couch drinking a glass of water while listening to a CD with a collection of jazz music. She keeps it loud enough to drown out her thought but low enough to hear the door. 10:30 at night, the doorbell rings as Sani was drifting off to sleep. She jumps up at the sound feeling alarmed. Regaining her composure, she ties back her hair with the hair-tie she keeps around her wrist and fixes her clothes to look somewhat presentable. The doorbell sounds off again and she starts unlocking the door. Opening the door, the porch light illuminates the figure of the man standing on the other side. Wearing his glasses, his suit and tie, the man she hadn't spoken to in almost four years now stands at her door wanting to come in.

 **Kira**

Earlier that day Sani and Kiara were shopping when she ran into him. He was coming out of the bank; he always goes to the bank on the 25th of the month unless it is a Sunday. In his safe deposit box he had stored the real death note and wrote down the names of a month's worth of criminals. The death note he carried on him was a fake; Light wanted Near to believe he didn't have the real one. When Near wanted to meet face-to-face with Light on the 28th, he knew Light would have Teru write down everyone's names but Kira's with the real death note. Teru went to the bank on the 25th and the 26th this month and Stephan who was tailing him found this odd. On the 26th, Kiyomi Takada was kidnapped and Teru took it upon himself to kill her for Light-without his permission or knowledge. Knowing the location of the real death note, Stephan made an identical copy that night and left the fake one in Teru's safe deposit box while giving the real one to Near. Mikami knew Stephan had tampered with the fake one he carried with him after examining it again and again with a microscope, however he failed to notice the Death Note in his deposit box was completely replaced.

Sani invites him in. He removes his shoes and walks towards the couch waiting for her to decide where they will sit down and talk. She motions him to sit down on the loveseat while she sits down on the three-seater. She offers him some red wine but he turns down the offer and asks for tea instead. They stay silent for a few minutes wanting to say much but not knowing how to say it. His silence is broken when Sachiko comes to the living room with concern and says,

"Sani, why are their two older boys sleeping in Kiara's room?" Teru looks at her face and sees the name Sachiko Yagami above her head.

"Auntie, they're her brothers. You don't have to worry about any funny business. They'll be gone in the morning." She says with a smile.

"Ok, just making sure you know because she is at the age now where boys like to sneak into girl's rooms at night. I'll tell them to sleep in the guest room, anyways." She kisses her goodnight on the forehead and heads upstairs. Teru strokes his temples with his pointer and middle fingers and laughs to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"See, I told you all those years ago that she'd be a handful. You still haven't changed...your aunt is still raising your child."

"And you continue to judge me without knowing my situation, my family, my past. You always shared yours but you never asked me about mine. Honestly I never wanted to talk about it, but now I really need to."

"Well, I'm here. You said you wanted to talk." He leans forward and stares her straight in the eyes with open ears. She takes a deep breath.

"I was lucky that my father's side of the family even accepted me when my father denied me. I grew up in an orphanage my paternal grandfather owned, but he was gone most of the time since he ran so many of them. My family was the orphans like I; Kiara's father, those two boys upstairs, friends I grew up with and other orphans I helped raise as a teenager.

I was lucky my mother's brother, Soichiro let me stay with his family and his wife helped raise Kiara while I was in school…I was lucky that the same orphanage that raised me helped raise her too. Sachiko and my children are all I have left and I, her children and mine are all she has left. So many of our loved ones have died: murdered, committed suicide or are just mentally not there anymore because of the lives we live, the jobs we have, the duties we want to fulfill…we all put ourselves in harm's way believing that we can better the world by being cops and investigators and lawyers..." She walks over to Teru. She sits next to him and takes his hands. "I know Kira, Teru. Your God is nothing more than a man with too much power, too much smarts and too much ambition." She holds his hands tight and doesn't take her eyes off his. He smiles and his eyes light up at a thought,

"You know God?! Do you not see that we were meant to meet today? He brought us together after all these years. Kira has given me his gift. Soon, everyone will be out of his way, including L and his "SPK" agents. They will all die in a couple days and I will play my part. Please, Sani we can help Kira build a better future together. Don't you want Kiara to grow up in a world that's at peace? Don't let your loved ones die in vain either. _Delete_ those who make this world rotten." Sani lets go of his hands and puts hers on his face.

"Teru, Kira killed them-my grandfather, my fiancé, my uncle, my friends…my cousin; he killed those who trusted him with their lives, people who loved him, people who fought the same fight he did. Kira is a murderer, a serial killer, a manipulator-a corrupted soul. I know I fueled your emotions towards Kira and encouraged you to get his attention, but I don't want you to die believing in a man who's a walking contradiction. If I can't save him, I at least want to save you." Teru turns his face away from her and removes her hands.

"The 28th will be judgment day. If Kira prevails then he is righteous. If he fails then…" She pulls his chin to make his face-face hers, but he stands up and begins to walk around the room. His voice becomes manic as he rants. Sani can see that his mind state is far from what it was before she mentioned Kira; his whole demeanor had changed from calm-focused to hysterical-manic.

"No, Kira will not cease to amaze. Evil will be _deleted_ for I will carry out his will; the world will be a place where people with pure hearts will live a life of peace and anyone who disturbs that peace will pay the price to keep it-death. Kira is the real God- for God has the power to take away the life of a person he so chooses if he sees it as a threat to the lives of the innocent." With crazy eyes he looks at Sani. "Do you not see, Sani? Those who try to capture God and his power are a threat and they will fail because God is supreme! They all will be deleted. I suggest you don't follow down the path your relatives have taken…"

His voice calms down as his attention is drawn to a photo of a young boy with Sani and an older girl that sits in a frame on the mantle of the fireplace.

"Who's the boy in the picture?" He says as he sees himself at that age.

"My, son." She replies slowly trying to figure out why his demeanor changed so suddenly again. With his shinigami eyes, he sees the name Taro Yagami above the boys head and Kiara Lawliet above the girl's. He looks back at Sani to see the name Sani Wammy above hers. Despite looking like him he doubts that the boy is his son. But he asks anyways,

"I see. Is he my son?" He picks up the picture frame.

"Does he look like you?" She folds her arms and crosses her legs.

"So, there was someone else." He sets it back down.

"If that's what you want to believe."

"How old is he?"

"He will turn three in a few months." She gets up and walks over to the window beside the front door.

"Ah, so that's it. You were pregnant then. But I still feel the same. I have no intensions on raising any children. Kira needs me now more than ever." Teru walks to the door and opens it slowly, "So which is it, Yagami, Lawliet, Wammy or something else? What is your real name?" By the time he is done finishing his questions he is outside and Sani is at the door.

"Lawliet." She slams the door in his face too angered to wonder why he knows the many last names she has held. Yet again, they leave their conversation off on a bad note, but they did say all they wanted to say even if the truth wasn't accepted. Sani can sense his mental health is deteriorating more rapidly than before since he obtained the notebook. There is no doubt in her mind that she did the right thing by not telling Teru about Taro. She knows how important it is to him to teach "Kira's teachings" to the youth- to the future of this world. She wonders why he chose to become a prosecuting attorney rather than a teacher or professor. But then again, if he had-he would have plenty of time to mold Kiara and Taro into his ideal model citizens- Kira's ideal model citizens.

Teru walks down the street to his apartment building. Ryuk is following behind him. Ryuk recognizes Sani as the girl in a picture that Light had on his desk when they first met, but he doesn't inform Teru. Ryuk knows that the 28th will be an interesting day when all the players meet face-to-face. He hopes Light will prevail to ease his boredom longer.

"Tell me, Shinigami, for women what last name do I see; maiden or married?"

"Whatever last name they accept. If they are widows, they can choose their birth-legal last name or keep their dead spouses'. Engaged or single it is their legal last name. If married, well they can choose their maiden or spouses last name. For children and men, it is their legal last name- or in other words, the name the parents give them. Women can be a bit tricky to kill with the death note, but it's whatever legal last name they have at the time."

He thinks to himself: Sani Wammy. Knowing she is a widow, but not the current status of her relationship with Taro's father; Wammy is the name she has currently but wishes it to be Lawliet- Kiara's last name. Yagami is the name given to Taro which leads him to believe she had a child with a man with that last name. When they met, he knew her as Sani Lawliet and she was a widow and single. He believes that Wammy is her maiden name, Lawliet is the name of her dead fiancé- Kiara's father-and Yagami is the name of Taro's father with the assumption she is not married. If so, Yagami may be her maiden name and she is married to a Wammy which also leads him to the assumption that she is unhappy in the relationship by wishing to be a Lawliet again. With the possibility of her being unfaithful, Mikami isn't sure what to believe. No matter- she knew that he didn't want to have a child and doesn't plan on making him a part of his life and if Taro is his son he can blame Sani for Taro not having his father around since she kept him a secret.

He heads back to his empty apartment, showers, and changes into a t-shirt and pajama pants. He goes to his closet where he takes out an old shoebox filled with pictures and things from a time when Sani and Teru were together and things she sent him after they broke up- unopened mail. He finally decides to open them. He stares at a picture of Sani looking at a sunset on the beach from 2009. Looking closely at it, the wind blowing against her body is making her dress reveal a slight baby bump. In 2010, she sent him a postcard that had baby foot prints on it with a date and time but no name. "Did she want me to choose one?" He thinks to himself out loud.

He digs deeper into the box to find a picture of Kiara on her first day of middle school that Sani sent him in 2011. Sayu, Light and Sani are in the picture with her. He sees the last name Yagami above Sayu and Light's head while Sani's remains Wammy and Kiara's, Lawliet. Knowing that the woman he met earlier, Sachiko Yagami is her aunt through marriage to Soichiro, he now knows Sani's mother maiden name was Yagami. This means that Sani may have given her maternal last name to Taro which leads him to believe that Wammy is her paternal-legal last name. Lawliet is the only connection Sani has to Kiara who was given her father's last name.

He thinks, maybe Sani hasn't moved past Lawliet's death and wishes she could go back to those times. If this is all true, then Teru is sure Taro is in fact his son and not another man's. Teru knows he can never feel the void in Sani's heart the death of her first love caused; he feels that she only wanted him around because he was convenient. She never shared his passion for justice-for Kira- she only pretended, she never intended on having a real relationship with him, and she never had the intensions of telling him about Kiara or Taro. He knows she thinks he is a monster like Kira and she doesn't want his influence in Taro's life. This is what he reasons. The last thing Teru takes out of the box is a screenshot of himself on TV at a Kira debate in which Kiyomi Takada was a judge.

He found it to be no surprise that Kira also granted her the power being a fellow Kira worshiper. He thought about dating her but Light beat him to it; he actually heard "God's" voice for the first time when Takada and Light were getting reacquainted-well tried to but he was under surveillance willingly.

Light always had something set up in his favor. At this meeting with Kiyomi, he convinced the team to let him try to convince her to help them catch Kira, but what he was really doing is setting up meeting in which he could give his commands to her and Mikami. Teru puts the photos back into the shoebox, checks the death note for tampering then goes to bed.

2020\. In the city of Alexandria, Egypt, Stephan meets up with Kiara and Mogi after confirming that Lucca and Taro arrived at headquarters safely. The city of Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt and an important port city handling a major amount of Egypt's imports and exports. Industrially, they harbor natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez to be passed onto Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Founded by Alexander the Great of Macedon Greece thousands of years ago and home to the Library of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world- the Necropolis and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, this city has a long history rich in conflict, wealth, controversy, art and architecture making it a must-see tourist destination. Just like with San Paolo, Cancun and Sydney with so many people coming and going it will be difficult to track down who has the death note. However, unlike the previous investigations, the presence of the death note is well known and centralized around one group of people-the city's government. The crusades through Africa started here and are expanding their reach further every day.

Kiara contacts one of her childhood friends from Wammy's House that works at the main port on an oil rig. Kimi Kahlo has witnessed some of her co-workers go missing or killed in freak accidents. Many of their export ships of oil have been delayed or stopped due to the deaths. Not only has the export of oil gone down in Egypt but also in other countries who export much oil.

"At first, it looked like the Egyptian government wanted to wipe out the competition with the crusades through Africa and the recent invasion of the Middle East, but it seems whoever has this death note wants to kill anyone in the oil trading business-workers and government officials included." Kimi hands Stephan a list of names she gathered of people who have been killed so far and those who maybe next.

"The names that aren't crossed off are the top people in the oil, natural gas, coal, mining, and lumber industries in many countries, including Egypt. Why kill the workers and government officials and not the heads?" Stephan wonders.

"The governments are allowing the exploitation of natural resources while the workers are enabling the transportation." She explains.

"Easier to make the heads back down with the threat of being killed next," Mogi concludes.

"Allowing Egypt to advance with their plan. So whoever has the death note is letting part of the government build an African army to reform the Middle East while also allowing that part of the government prevent the exportation and extraction of natural resources abroad,"

"And they believe that they will wipe out all the competition and take over the Middle East and Africa." A man overhears their conversation. He has a toothpick in his mouth and a cigarette behind his ear, black hair with sideburns, a maroon button-up shirt that mostly unbuttoned exposing his cleanly shaven chest, tight light brown pants, dark brown sandals and fiery brown eyes. He lights his cigarette.

"Sah Rava, this is my friend Kiara and her teammates, Mogi and Stephan. L sent them to find the death note here. Everyone, this is my boyfriend. He's been helping me gather information. He was on one of the ships that blew up and survived."

"Yeah, so if anyone asks about me, I am dead, got it." He points his lit cigarette at Stephan in his personal face space.

"Got it." He snatches his cigarette and tosses it into the harbor. "And I just saved your life, again. Three strikes and you're out."

"Don't you know cats have nine lives?" He takes out another cigarette and put it behind his ear.

"Well, let's head to my place and we can look into the people whose names are not crossed out: Kira may be one of them." Kimi clocks out for the day early.

At her home, she changes into more comfortable clothes and by comfortable for the dry heat of Egypt means a black see-through dress with her lingerie completely visible and a matching headdress with gold trimming.

"For a moment there I thought you were Muslim but that is far from trying to cover yourself up." Mogi states.

"I am Muslim, just not traditional. I'll cover up in public but it's too hot in my home to wear the 'proper attire' all day. Besides, Sah needs a little eye candy sometimes." She says as she bends behind Sah and rubs his chest as he uses her chest as a headrest.

"Anyway, I was looking into the names on this list and one caught my attention; Isiah King. I kept digging into his records but something isn't right, they seem forged. It says he is the executive head of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, but when I look for the name of the previous one it is a different one, Darius Ptolemy and it says he is still in office. I can't find a picture of either anywhere which is understandable, but both names also appear on the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency website as top-ranking officials." Kiara tells them.

"Interesting…so whoever these people are control both aspects of dealing with the environment and the profits from it. They may be a good starting point if this Kira is working closely with them. We just need to find out if one or both is using an alias or not and if they are who they says they are, because they may be the same person." Stephan looks at a map to figure out where the chamber of commerce is but Sah throws his lit cigarette on it and it catches on fire. "The hell?" Stephan yells as he drops the map.

"See, that's when you get caught. You need to stumble upon the place and make up a plan as you go. This is one of the most highly guarded buildings in the city; you have to go there with no intentions-nothing to give yourself away." Sah gets off the couch, put his sandals back on and heads to the door as Stephan stomps out the fire. "Follow me, amateurs." Kimi giggles at them as she changes into a black and yellow silk robe that matches her hair and ties it close with a gold belt. She lets her hair hang loosely down under her headdress that she uses to cover her face all but her eyes. Mogi and Stephan stare at each other not sure if they should follow him of ditch him, but Kimi and Kiara drag them out the house telling them to cover their faces.

As they walk through the streets they feel anything but safe. The people openly carry huge firearms and ride through the streets in packs; males of all ages above six. Women, girls and younger boys hide inside their houses most of the day while some brave ones will venture to the market to get food and the mall to stock up on supplies. Kiara walk between Mogi and Stephan while Kimi is sandwiched between Stephan and Sah. They avoid open areas to dodge gunfire that might break out as the evening progresses. Since the death notes are with Stephan, Belphagor hangs around him so he can spot a shinigami when he sees one. Not before long, he finds himself hiding behind a building; peaking around it to see a shinigami walking among a crowd of people that can't see it. He doesn't recognize the shinigami, but he knows she is looking for something. She heads inside a museum that is closed for the day and Belphagor follows her. Inside she examines a case of jewelry from an ancient Egyptian queen, Neferatari. She was the main spouse of Ramses II or Ramses the Great who in popular culture is believed to be the pharaoh Moses freed the Israelites from.

She reaches into the glass case and removes her crown and places it on her head but being too heavy she puts it back and grabs her gold royal necklace instead which has some weight to it too. She lets out a laugh-one that sounds very goofy- not like a shinigami snicker. Belphagor doesn't know what type of human style she is going for because most of her clothes and jewelry she is wearing is more Asian inspired than Egyptian. He also thinks that he's been in the human world too long to start thinking about such things. She leaves the museum when she hears a human approaching with a flashlight looking for the light switch-she hates bright places. She flies to the roof and over the city back to her companion. Belphagor follows her by flying along the ground as Stephan and the rest try to keep up by foot on the rooftops in an older part of the city where houses are still no more than two or three stories.

The shinigami leads them to a nice house in a middle class neighborhood. A gate surrounds the property but there is no one guarding the residence. Stephan instructs Kiara and Mogi to wait outside at the front and back entrances while he heads inside with Sah and Kimi. Belphagor looks in one of the windows to the living room with Stephan. Inside, the shinigami shows the necklace to the man who places his hand on her face and tells her,  
"It looks beautiful on you. Soon, we can find all the metal accessories you want once we have control over Africa and the Middle East. Soon, the countries with too much power will destroy each other and we will be all that's left-Africa, Middle East, South America and small islands everywhere. We will create a new world-a new world order where we won't have to fight to get what we want but work together to keep what we need." He rubs the death note, opens it and begins to write down names. Seeing this, Stephan, Kimi and Sah barge in. Stephan draws out the death note, while Kimi pulls a gun from its holder on her leg and Sah draws a sword its sheath on his back. The shinigami looks at them and has her death note ready seeing that all of their names and lifespans are visible above their heads.

"Drop the death note and come quietly so no one has to die here." Stephan demands. The man holds us a poison dart at Kimi and Sah.

"I bet my reflexes are faster than yours. Tell me, how long does it take for a person to die from snake poisoning…of course that depends on how venomous the snake is and how much it injects."

Daril Ghiroza is a rank three shinigami who is highly intelligent and loves to kill. She enjoys gambling and admires the many jewelry pieces Armonia Justin Beyondormason-rank two shinigami- adorns his body with. Initially having little interest in the human world, she becomes curious as more shinigami go there. When she arrived, she was attracted to Egypt for the ancient wonders it possesses that remind her of Justin's appearance. Finding a human who is a collector of rare ancient artifacts- many being made of metals, she decides to give him the death note in exchange for all his metal accessories to bring some back to Justin so she can use his jewels to make unique accessories. When she does, Justin doesn't want her gifts and doesn't want to give up his jewels and shoos her away. Devastated, she returns to the human world where the man promises to find her rare jewels so she can be more extravagant than Justin. She won't let anything happen to her human man.

"You write his name down and I shall kill you and your friends." Sah keeps his Khopesh-a sickle-sword- pointed at Ismael, while Kimi receives a text from Kiara giving them the go ahead with their plan. Kimi took a picture of Ismael, sent it to Kiara who sent it to Taro for Lucca to tell them his name. Through the tiny earphone in Stephan's ear, she tells him the man's name.

"I guess we will have to find out." Sah waves him on.

"We shall kill you first, Ismael King!" Stephan says the magic words. He writes down Ismael's name in the death note from Brazil as Kiara writes down the same name in the death note from Mexico and Mogi writes down the same name in the death note from Taro. He throws the darts at Kimi who dodges it and Sah who cuts it in half.

"Stephan, it's yours now!" Kiara says to Belphagor who changes ownership back to him.

Before sending Taro and Lucca to Tokyo, Lucca gave Stephan ownership of the death note from Brazil. Knowing that the shinigami might try to kill him, Kiara or Mogi, Stephan told Belphagor that he will relinquish ownership to Kiara for the time being. A shinigami can't kill the owner of the death note be they the original or temporary owner. Furthermore, if a person's name is written in three death notes within 0.06seconds of each other, the person will not die, using this rule to provoke Daril into trying to kill Stephan who now has ownership of the death note again.

Daril finishes writing down Stephan's name seconds after he gained ownership and it is ineffective. Belphagor appears behind Daril and grabs her death note. His eyes are bright red; all of his sharp teeth are showing for he smiles contently.

"It's mine now." Belphagor has lost control off his hand and writes down Daril's name in her death note. The King of Death has compelled Belphagor to kill Daril for him since she tried killing a human who owns a death note. Her death was rather different than just turning to sand. Her articles of clothing and jewelry decayed as her bones dismantled and her eyes turned black. A strange vortex came bursting through the ceiling and sends her remains swirling into a portal that appeared in the sky above them. From it a chain extends and pierces the abandoned shinigami eyes and the death note in Belphagor's hand as well as the other shinigami death notes in their possession taking them back to the shinigami realm. The death notes that remain are the ones the humans own. The humans get a glimpse of the shinigami realm and their king.

In those ten seconds, they can feel the immense power he holds and can't comprehend the magnitude of his being. As the vortex disappears and the portal closes, Belphagor's eyes go black again. Stephan quickly takes the death note from Ismael while Mogi and Kiara rush in the house. Mogi handcuffs Ismael as Sah collapses to the ground with his hand on his chest. Kimi rushes over to him to see what's wrong.

"It hurts…more than the scar from the explosion." Kimi rips open his shirt to see if the poison dart Ismael threw at him made contact but she doesn't see a mark on his chest or back. A huge scar covers most of his back with evidence of a weak attempt at stitching it up. The stiches are coming out and he begins to bleed through his shirt. Cutting the dart in half caused some of the poison to land on his body-seeping into his open wounds.

"No, hang in there!" She grips his shirt tight.

"Stephan… you were right… three strikes…and…" His eyes close as his face falls over sideways. Kimi shakes him as if she was trying to get him to wake up. Kiara wraps her arms around her arms and chest until she lies down and cries on Sah's chest. Stephan shakes down Ismael asking him what anti-venom he needs, but he tells them that there is none and he's already dead.

A couple days before Sah's funeral, Stephan contacts L to tell him they have another death note in their possession and tells him that he is sending them back with Mogi while Kiara and he help Kimi with the funeral. With only one left to confiscate, Near asks all of them to return to Tokyo so they can tackle North Korea together. Aizawa, Ide, Yamamoto and Halle are having a difficult time trying to find that death note and the situation is growing more dangerous by the minute. North Korea knows that the United States and Australia don't have a death note and are planning to launch a missile in a couple days- the start of World War III. The United States is ready to drop a bomb on North Korea that is twice as strong as the ones they dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Armies are mobilizing and weapons are being disrupted to allies all over the world and are picking sides already while some try to stay out of harm's way-foreigners fleeing enemy countries. Stephan and Kiara immediately rush back to Tokyo after the funeral, bringing Kimi and Ismael with them and asking P to join them as well. All together again they sit around a circular table L has set up in the main computer room; L, Kiara, Sani, Stephan, Mogi, Yamamoto, Matsuda, Carter, Halle, Aizawa, Ide, P and Kimi discuss their plan of attack while concern has also arise with the disappearance of the death notes Stephan had sent L and the disappearance of Taro and Lucca.

 **Worshipers**

A week earlier, Taro and Lucca arrived in Tokyo late at night. Lucca doesn't know who to look for and Taro doesn't see anyone he recognizes. As they make their way to the baggage claim Lucca can feel someone following them; at first thinking it was someone on their flight but even when they get lost and take a potty break-he lurks. The man has his face concealed by sunglasses and a hoodie and walks closely behind them switching between groups of travelers. Taro is aware of their stalker and keeps him in sight as they make it to their destination. Time goes by and they still haven't seen their bag; more and more people leave the area and the stalker gets closer and closer.

Sani and Carter stand outside the baggage claim area next to a limo; Carter is on the phone with his wife while Sani looks at the exit waiting for the boys to come out. Twenty minutes pass since their flight landed and Sani heads inside wondering where they are. At the conveyer belt they see the boys arguing with a man who's trying to take their suitcase. Everyone else has left the area; Sani told Near it would be a bad idea for them to fly in so late at night. Sani rushes over to confront the man and hears what they are arguing about,

"What is a death note?" Taro denies knowing about it existence.

"I know you have it with you! I saw you take it from that woman in Brazil." The man tugs at the suitcase but Taro and Lucca's grip is tight.

"You have us confused with someone else!" Lucca jams the suitcase into his crotch area and the man falls back and his hood falls down but doesn't let go.

"You kids shouldn't possess such a thing…you're too immature to understand its power!" He shoves the suitcase back at him and Taro with much more force sending them flying backwards. Letting go of the suitcase the man cradles it.

"Give us back our things before you become a victim of this power." Lucca fiddles with a paper clipping from the death note he keeps in his pant pocket. Even with the man having his eyes covered enough of his face is exposed to see the man's name and lifespan.

"Leave those boys alone!" Carter walks in the airport to see Sani kick the man from behind to the ground; she learned L's capoeirastyle of fighting too. He falls in agony dropping the suitcase and placing his hand on his spine.

"What the hell? Who are you?" She grabs him by the collar,

"Don't mess with my children asshole." She punches him and he is knocked out instantly.

"I'm going to have to call you back, dear." Carter knows that man will have a couple bruises showing up soon.

"Are you two, okay?" She holds out her hands to them offering to help them get up. Taro slaps it away as Lucca lets go of the paper in his pocket.

"We're fine." Taro wipes off his clothes and grabs the suitcase.

"Are you sure? He looks like he's seen a ghost." Lucca stares at Sani, at her face and name. Her name he recognizes but her face he does not. Taro shakes him out of it as Carter calls a bus for the man and the airport security gives them the okay to leave. He grabs their luggage and takes it to the limo while Sani and the boys follow. When Sani opens the door Taro and Lucca see a man sitting on the opposite end, not on the seat but on the floor.

Hesmiles at the boys; he hasn't seen Taro since he was three and is curious about the boy with the shinigami eyes. None say a word as they make their way to headquarters besides Carter who continues his conversation with his wife on the phone. At headquarters, Yamamoto shows the boys to their room and they immediately fall asleep when their heads hit the pillows. Sani comes into their room and watches Taro sleep for a while; she strokes his head as he smiles in his sleep. She looks at Lucca whose face she has seen before.

In the morning, Taro wakes up to see that Lucca is sitting on his bed playing computer games on a laptop Yamamoto lent him. An arm lies across his arm and he can feel hair touching that shoulder. Taro turns around to see his mother sleeping next to him and slides away from her as she gets out of bed. He throws his pillow at her to wake her up so she can leave. She opens her eyes, yawns and begins to stretch out.

"Get out of our room!" He demands. She sits up and puts her hair behind her ears.

"Taro, I haven't seen you or heard your voice in months."

"And?"

"Why have you been acting so distant lately? Are you mad at me for moving you to Mantua? Are you mad that I'm working far away?"

"I'm just mad at you-nothing more and nothing less."

"You have to be mad at me for a reason, what did I do, Taro?" He takes a deep breath; both Lucca and Sani can feel his irritability.

"You know what you did, if I have to tell you…then my hate for you is justified." He walks out the room with his towel and heads to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Sani think to herself what it could be, but then again it can be cumulative. She turns to Lucca,

"You're his friend, has he told you what's bothering him?" He scoffs and closes the laptop.

"You're his mother, you should know. All I know is that he's lucky to have a parent that still alive." Sani sits on the end of Lucca's bed

"What happened to yours?"

"They were murdered and I got stuck with a sad excuse of a human-my aunt who only made my life a living hell."

"I'm sorry to hear that…your story reminds me of a man I once knew. His wife turned ex was brutally murdered and he was accused of killing her, but he didn't. Kira didn't see that and killed him. He had a young son who I left with his aunt and uncle in Milan. I always wonder what happened to that boy." Someone knocks on the door and asks if Sani is in the room. She leaves the room to see that Near needs help with making breakfast since he doesn't trust Yamamoto and Carter left to meet with his family who is in the city. Lucca opens the laptop and on the screen is the case of Micca Abandonato from 2012. He finally has a face to the name, Sani Wammy.

A few days later, Near, Yamamoto, Carter and Sani learn about the connection between the people with the death notes from Juliana Guisy. Initially, the owners didn't want to work with each other until the syndicates revealed their locations to each other. Knowing each of their goals, they decided to work together to keep the world in a constant state of paranoia to weed out the people they truly couldn't reform. They targeted animal, food and environmental abusers so they can try to save and maybe even reverse the damage they have done to have something to survive off of when "The Time" comes. This time is soon when Korea will make their big move. Human populations will be greatly reduced and whatever is left on the earth will be their means of survival.

"We will start over from the very beginning, before governments and countries, before religion and walled cities. We will regulate the human population to keep us and Earth alive longer. If God can't do it- then we will." Juliana proudly states.

"Creating a perfect world with people only a few deem to be worthy…sounds like a recipe for disaster. I hope you manage to kill them all before World War III begins." Yamamoto feels.

"War does not give two damns or a fuck about the person you are-anyone in the line of fire will die! Do you really think you will make it out alive to see 'The New World'?" Sani says to bring Juliana to reality.

"Time does not give two dams or a fuck about humans-it will continue on with or without us. Anything you do now will not change the path our world is heading down unless you can stop North Korea. Tell me, what is their plan?" L asks with his most serious face to date.

Suddenly, they receive an alert from Mogi about his team closing in on another death note owner. Carter and Yamamoto search for any information on the man by scanning a picture of his face through a special database. Taro receives a text message from Kiara; it is the face of the man with the death note. Stephan told her that Lucca has the shinigami eyes. He calls Lucca over to get his name.

"Ismael King." Lucca tells him and Taro texts Kiara the name. Not long after, Mogi confirms that they have the death note. Sani is baffled, wondering how they found out his real name before Yamamoto or Carter told them.

"Lucca Pope or whatever his name is has the eyes, Sani. He was born with them." Ryuk tells her as she trembles with fear from him not warning her of his presence. Sani thinks about Micca Abandonato who also had the eyes and who had a son who she left in Milan with his aunt and uncle; a boy who would be Taro's age now. She remembers him telling her his son's name, Popei Abandonato…Lucca Pope.

"Whatever his name is…what name do you see, Ryuk? Popei Abandonato?"

"Close…Lucca Popei Abandonato."

Sani is glad to see that he is turning out fine despite who is raising him. She is also glad that Taro and him are friends and hopes to make Lucca another one of her un-biological sons feeling responsible for him since she couldn't save his father. She looks on as Near talks to Lucca about his power and his and Taro's intentions with the death note they received. They lie of course saying that they wanted to burn it before Belphagor informed them of the other death notes. Near knows they are lying but doesn't let it show. He only hopes that when the time comes, they will hand over the death notes without any problems.

A couple days later, Near receives the death notes Stephan sent him with Mogi being their escort. He stores them in a safe in a room right next to the boys room. He makes Sani, Taro and Lucca enter in a three digit code only known to them to lock the safe; the safe can only be open if all three of them put the codes in the right order. Should someone try to steal them, they only have one chance before the room is locked down and sleeping gas fills it. Lucca does not see this as a problem since they know six of the nine digits. That night they enter the room and brainstorm the numbers Sani could have chosen. They think of birthdays and holidays, anniversaries, anything and everything. Taro picks the numbers: 4-7-8 for Kira, a supposedly lucky number, and an upright infinity while Lucca picked the number: 6-6-6. Taro studies the numbers from all angles and finally feels he knows the numbers she chose. He keys in the code: closes his eyes and hold his breath anticipating the alarm to sound and the gas to invade their air, but the safe dings and the door pops open.

"1-2-3?"

"Yes, they are letters if you look at them from different orientations; 1-an upside down L, 2-a sideways fancy N and 3-a sideways lowercase m. L for well L, N for Near and M for Mello or Matt. She's too predictable." Taro explains.

"Or she was just really lazy with picking numbers." Lucca laughs and grabs the notebooks and puts them in his backpack. "You ready? We need to be as far away from here as we can and find people who will help us get the last death note before they do."

"Right, let's go. I heard that there is a big following of Kira in Tokyo since it all started here."

They make their way out of the city towards Mt. Fuji. When morning comes, they stop to get food and camping supplies. As they are shopping they overhear a man talking to a family about the candlelight visual tonight on Mt. Fuji for Kira. He hands them a flyer giving them the location and time on the back. Lucca gets a flyer from the man.

"Looks like we are going here tonight; we just need to lay low today."

"We need to make sure Near won't find us at this ceremony either. I'm sure he'd know we would go."

That night, in the distance they can see little lights moving up the mountainside, many little lights that move in a single file line. A huge gathering of Kira worshipers have come to pray for his protection. They all wear black cloaks and carry a single candle. Lucca and Taro feel safe among the crowd knowing that even Near would find it hard to find them, especially with everyone being hardly visible.

In the crowd there are people of all ages and nationalities who have come to Japan just for this one night; babies are held by their mothers, children walk closely beside their parents, the elderly are escorted by a younger adult while young couples hold each other close. Lucca never imagined that a mass of this size would be allowed to gather without the police being present, but then again even some officers are participating. Taro and Lucca make their way to the front as they see the single file line forming into a circle and leave a path down the middle open. Moments later, asingle person walks down the middle of the aisle wearing a white cloak and carrying one candle.

Her light shines like a star and it is the brightest. The boys can see that it is a woman. She approaches a man who stands in the middle of the circle who takes her candle. The crowd is silent except the few babies that are upset. The man speaks,

"Let us pray together my sisters and brothers." Everyone lowers their heads and close their eyes.

"Kira, our savior we have gathered here tonight like we do every year for our prayers to be heard. For years we thought you had left us as the world began to decay again, but now we see you were waiting-waiting to see who would stay loyal and faithful to you. Judgment day is coming and we only pray that you protect us from the path of destruction. We will forever be the light that shines for the world you want to see and strive to make mankind the model citizens I know we can be. Kira, our savior, bless our children with a brighter future; show them the right way to live and be kind when the day comes to die.

"Long shall ye reign, our savior." The woman finishes with.

"Long shall ye reign!" The crowd shouts back. One by one the followers hand the reverend their candle and he blesses them. When Lucca gets close enough he can see the man's name, Solomon Divine and the woman's name, Sarah Divine. He blesses them and they head down the mountain to the feast.

As they make their way down the mountain, some other children start conversations with them. Three of them are older while one is closer to their age.

"So where are you all from?" The young girl with the bright pink hair asks them. Her name is Serenity Seung.

"I'm from Zambia, that's in Africa." The teenage girl with the pigtails says. Her name is Lumuka Maidstone.

"We are from Mantua, that's in Italy." Taro replies for the both of them.

"I'm from Athens in Greece." The teenage boy tells them. His name is Dion Nikias.

"Live right here in Tokyo, but I am German." The other teenage boy with the black and red hair informs. His name is Axel Friedrich.

"My mom and I live in Korea, South Korea but my father is from North." Serenity reveals. Lucca smiles at the thought of having a means of getting to Korea. He hangs around her during the rest of their walk and manages to sit with her and her mother at the feast. With their food on plates and no clear tables to sit at, the followers sit in circles around camp fires. At their camp fire the reverend and his wife sit with them.

"It brings me joy to see so many young faces." Reverend Solomon tells them.

"I am glad to see this many people believe in Kira and his mission." Serenity's mother **,** Sun Seung is surprised to see so many people.

"Yes, even with Kira's disappearance for seven years the gathering has grown every year. Our savior, Kira must have decided that there are enough of us who truly want a world of good to continue his plan from years ago."

"Or they are just scared of the lingering threat of war and the death that comes with it." Lucca says out loud.

"And what do you know about Kira and his mercy, son?" Sarah asks.

"Hmph, he has none." Lucca gets up and walks away as Taro follows him. Serenity goes to find the boys intrigued about their knowledge of Kira.

"What if I told you, I know Kira?" Lucca says to her.

"I would do whatever I can to help him." She smiles.

"Good, because he needs your assistance; Taro is Kira. Your savior chose him to carry out his will but there are those who stand in our way. We need to get to North Korea, can you help us with that?" He shows her the death notes with all the names they have written; she already knows what it is.

"Yes, I will help you two before things get out of hand. I'll tell my mom to get extra plane tickets." She kisses them both on their cheek and hurries to tell her mother.

The next day, they are on their way to North Korea with Serenity and her mother who have fallen asleep in their seats across the aisle. Lucca takes out the death note Belphagor gave Taro.

"Belphagor chose us to rule this world in life and death. We need to eliminate all who know of the death notes and where they are. None shall know about us." Lucca writes down names;

"Kido Namikawa death by car accident, Reverend Solomon Divine tormented to death by his wife, Sarah Divine."

The man who tried to steal their luggage when they arrived to Tokyo is hit by a bus when he runs a red light. Sarah nails her husband through the hands, feet and stomach to a wooden cross on the mountain side facing the ocean. She gathers wood and places it around his feet before setting him on fire- burning him alive. Shortly after, she dies of a heart attack since her name was also written in the death note with no instructions given to how she will die.

"Femi Lekan death by drowning, Akira Hitomu death by suicide, Gabriella Lopez death by electrocution,"

The African fisherman ties a barrel to his legs and rolls into the water; the weight of the barrel keeps him submerged and he drowns. The Japanese immigrant who owns the noodle shop stabs himself in the neck with the butcher knife while cutting up meat for a customer. The Brazilian woman who runs a beauty salon throws all her electrical equipment on the floor. She electrocutes herself when she breaks the fish tank in her shop flooding the floor where all her hair dryers, flat irons, TV and radio sit.

"Phillip Moinsseau, Kimi Kahlo,"

At the round table, P and Kimi Kahlo fall out of their seats head first to the ground moments after the other. Kiara rushes over to them and confirms that they are dead from heart attacks. Everyone looks around the room to see who is next. They hear a screams down the hall.

"Alejandro Rivera, Juliana Guisy, Ismael King,"

Near and Sani rush to the room they are holding the ex-owners in. Opening the door, each of them lay dead on the floor with eyes open having suffered from heart attacks. Ryuk can see all their lifespans fluctuating with each death not knowing if they are being lengthen or shortened because they won't settle on a number.

"Ryuk, stop them! Please! Write down their names!" Kiara pleads. He is reminded of Light when he asked him to do the same thing; asking Ryuk to kill those trying to arrest him when Near beat him at his own game. Light killed Takada and Mikami had already been apprehended while Misa had no memories of being the second Kira so she was not there they day Light died; no one was there to kill for him anymore. Like then he refuses.

"I can't do that."

"Then let me, give me your death note."

"A human must never write in a shinigami's personal death note. If you did I would die." His eyes are bright red having unintentional excitement for all the deaths going on but deep down he is mad at the king for allowing Belphagor to stay in the human world for this long. He knows the King didn't give him the whole story when he sent him here-something is preventing him from just killing Belphagor and Ryuk is determined to figure it out.

"Halle Bullock, Anthony Carter, Hideki Ide, Kanzo Mogi, Shou Yamamoto,"

Halle and Anthony fall onto each other as they hold their chests gasping for air in agony. Aizawa catches Ide before he hits the ground as Mogi falls on top of him. Kiara pulls Mogi's lifeless body off Aizawa. Matsuda sees Yamamoto fall over next to Near. Near is pissed, he never anticipated Taro to kill his agents and he underestimated how dangerous he and Lucca are. He waits for a heart attack to end his life like the L before him-failing to defeat Kira like the L before him.

Sani holds onto Near and Kiara as Aizawa, Matsuda and Stephan cry over the bodies of their best friends, their comrades- their family. Minutes pass and they are still alive.

"That's it for now, Lucca. I still don't know what to do with the rest."

"I understand you wanting to keep your family alive, but why keep Aizawa and Matsuda alive?"

"They have young children and they may as well be family. I am sensitive to that." Taro takes the death note from him and puts it back in his bag.

"I guess I'll let you decide how you want to kill your family. I already killed my aunt and her boyfriend weeks ago along with all the bastards on my mother's side of the family…I'm the only one left. Don't get empathetic on me now; this world deserves no empathy or sympathy, Taro." He curls up in his seat and goes to sleep feeling highly accomplished. Taro cries himself to sleep, feeling trapped in an endless cycle of deceit and death. Taro tells himself that after they get the last death note he will kill Lucca and hopes he will be forgiven for what he has done- for what he started and now has to finish.

"I have to kill him, Belphagor. It's either him or my family and the fate of mankind. I have to fix this for I am the only Kira left. My father wanted a world of peace where people don't have to fear unnatural deaths and unnecessary violence. He wanted people to live lives that not only better themselves but those around them. Lucca just wants to kill and disposes of human lives without remorse. He toys with people's lives. He is evil and evil must be…deleted."

As Near and the rest decide they are safe, they move the bodies to the living room and cover their bodies in blankets until they know what they should do with the bodies. Aizawa and Matsuda call Shou's, Mogi's and Ide's family while Sani contacts Carter's family and Wammy House telling Rodger to start digging some more plots for fallen family members. Stephan calls Halle's parents and siblings. Kiara holds onto Near tightly as he tries to figure out what to do next. With no death notes it is extremely hard confiscate one when they don't have the treat of having one unless Ryuk wants to use his. They don't know where the boys are but they shouldn't be too hard to find. Near intends on not losing anyone else so he has to be more careful and more strategic when confronting Taro and Lucca.

A call comes in to headquarters. Hesitant to answer, Near does anyways. On the screen a Korean man appears; another contact from Wammy's House.

"Chung-Ho Bae, what information have you gathered in Korea?"

"Not good news at all. North Korea just sent a threat to the United States and its allies saying they will unleash a level four virus- highly deadly. Not only is this man planning on using this virus to kill millions he is also targeting anyone who has a disease or may be a carrier. Many of those with Ebola, Malaria, TB, HIV and AIDS and even those with mental disabilities have been killed already."

 **Promise**

Immediately, Near and the rest arrange for the victim's families to retrieve the bodies and begin funeral arrangements while they head to North Korea. Near promises his team that they will not miss any of the funerals and he will avenge their deaths. Flying out on the next flight to South Korea, they arrive in North Korea the next day and meet Chung-Ho Bae.

"We can take down the man now. He is at his penthouse in Pyongyang with his daughter. His name is Shin Kang-Dae."

"Let's do this. This is the last death note. We must get it before Lucca and Taro or I fear we all will die." Near warns them.

At the high-rise where his penthouse is located, they make their way to the roof access without detection. Ryuk confirms that the shinigami is not there. Kiara, Stephan and Aizawa scale own the side of the building while Near, Sani and Matsuda watch for a shinigami while Ryuk goes to find it with the intent of stealing its death note. He finds the shinigami, Midora hanging around a park near a pond. Ryuk finds it hard to figure out where she keeps her death note since she wears no clothes or accessories. He sees Taro and Lucca talking to her with Belphagor. Overhearing their conversation he hears that they are warning her about Near and the others wanting to kill her. Belphagor asks Midora for her death note but she tells him that she left it in the shinigami realm with Justin. Ryuk immediately flies to the shinigami realm to retrieve it before Belphagor does, but he also knows that he wouldn't dare to step foot in the shinigami realm.

Midora is a rank 9 shinigami who's a bit lazy but loves to kill. She likes being near water because she likes humidity and hates how dry heat is present in Pyongyang, which is why she usually doesn't go to Dae's home because it isn't near water. She is a massive shinigami that looks more like an overgrown alligator or crocodile than a skeleton as most shinigami look like.

Ryuk returns with the death note and hands it to Kiara who is in the man's library. On his desk is the death note given to him and records of infectious disease victims-worldwide. Some have check marks next to their names, some have stars and some have X's. Kiara switching his death note with Midora's. From the outside they look the same but Stephan copies the names from Dae's into Midora's. Aizawa wiretaps the room. Taking Dae's they head back to the roof, waiting for him to use it so Midora will be destroyed. Not long after they leave, Shin enters his study and grabs the note book and leaves. From the roof, they follow him using a powerful infrared camera. He goes to his daughter's room; she is resting in her bed with an IV attached to her arm. They can hear their conversation since Chung had put wiretaps and surveillance cameras throughout the house days ago.

"Mina, I will make them pay for this. Airlines are so careless; letting people with deadly diseases on planes, governments using them as a bioweapons…it's disgusting!"

"Father, they will find a cure." The girl drifts off to sleep.

"The only cure we need is the eradication of the viruses and bacteria these people harbor. They all must die." He opens the death note and takes out his "hit list".

"Hmm where to start…Julie Fatima Moskah **,** MRSA infection kills her in 24 hours from midnight. See Mina, it's easy to kill people when they will die soon anyways. All I'm doing is putting them out of their misery sooner."

This man reminds Sani of B-Bran- Beyond Birthday but even worse. B may have staged his victims' deaths but he didn't end their lives sooner than destiny had given them. This man is justifying his actions by believing that he is being merciful. She feels that Light used that justification too, killing criminals who would die in jail anyways, so he felt merciful in hastening their deaths. Ryuk flies to the park to see if Midora is dust.

"Damn, they beat us to it!" Lucca holds the sand that was Midora in his hand. "Now they can kill us if they so choose…do you want to take that risk? We need to get it from them and then kill them. Then, this world will be ours."

"Yeah, we should head back to Japan and finish this where it began." Taro looks around to see Ryuk hovering in the sky and doesn't let Lucca knows he sees him. Lucca takes out a death note,

"Sun Seung, buys two plane tickets to Narita International Airport and gives them to two boys with her daughter at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport. Her daughter, Serenity Seung dies from freight when her mother collapses from a heart attack twenty minutes after the boys' plane arrives in Tokyo." He says as he writes away in the death note. "We must leave no loose ends." Taro is devastated that he is going this far, Serenity is only eight years old. He can't do anything about it-once the name is written it cannot be undone.

Near and his team move in to arrest Shin and take Midora's death note and him back to Japan. He takes out a gun from under his shirt and points it at his head.

"The world order is set. Even if you arrest me there are those who will carry out our will. The syndicates have infiltrated ever country with no indication to who is part of one; everyday people who wait for Kira to begin the world anew. Their numbers run in the millions. Kira's rule is absolute with or without the death note." He pulls the trigger and falls on the IV stand attached to his daughter. Stephan plugs her back in but Aizawa knows she is dead. In the death note he reads:

Mina Kang-Dae dies peacefully in her sleep.

Ryuk returns and informs them that Taro and Lucca are heading back to Tokyo and that they should do the same saying that Lucca will contact them soon wanting the last death note. Near and his team leaves the man and his daughter as is and head to the airport and back to headquarters. When they arrive a shinigami appears before them with no other death note but his. He allows himself to be seen by Sani, Near, Kiara, Stephan, Matsuda and Aizawa. He is a fairly new shinigami too but the King trusts him far more than Belphagor.

"So you finally made it to the human world, Teilavhan **.** I thought the King wasn't letting anymore shinigami into the human world." Ryuk remarks.

"He isn't and he didn't send me here. Belphagor told me about your travels to the human world. When I sought you out to hear the story of Light Yagami, I need to know what made the human world so interesting. I was intrigued by the human who rivals the King of Death and the way he learned more about the Death Note than any of us in the Shinigami Realm. I left before you finished your story because I heard her voice calling me. I thought it was from the human world, but it wasn't."

"Whose voice called for you?"

"Earth. She wants me and you to destroy Belphagor without the restraint of the King. She broke our chains to him like Belphagor did by himself. He has grown too powerful with taking the energy from the humans lives written in the five death notes the humans possessed and the five the shinigami possessed which contains thousands of years of names. We need to stop him before he destroys humans, shinigami, the King and Earth."

"Finally, I was waiting for this. We need to find these two boys, Taro and Lucca- he is with them. We can take him out then."

"Perfect, let us begin then."

Stephan is able to get in contact with Lucca who demands that they hand over the last death note and he will spare them at Taro's request. Lucca tells them, "Meet us at the warehouse where Light was defeated- where his son will avenge him-the Yellow Box Warehouse; a warehouse with only one door."

"Sani, Taro is confused. He thinks Light is his father and he knows that Light was Kira. He knows we all played a role in his demise. Even if we give them the death notes I fear Lucca won't hesitate to kill us regardless of how Taro feels. We have to kill Lucca and…maybe even Taro too."

"I know, Stephan. I knew it would come to this, just like the first time."

"Lucca killed most of our team, I'm sure of it. He was the one doing most of the killings. It was his handwriting in the death note they received. Taro isn't the…brightest kid but I believe he sees how corrupt Lucca has become. I sure he wants Lucca dead as much as we do…I shouldn't have let this go this far."

"None of this is your fault, Stephan. I should have told Taro about his father. I just…I couldn't. I hoped him not knowing would save him from his legacy. I couldn't save his father from Light or himself- but I can still save my son from their legacy. I pray for my son not to meet the same fate." Sani thinks back to that day.

January 27th, 2013. Sachiko has taken Kiara and Taro with her see Sayu and they stay overnight with her so Sani has the house to herself. She talks to Near on the phone confirming that everything will run smoothly tomorrow. He asks her if she wants to confront Light too and she doesn't, telling him that she will stay home too afraid to see the monster her cousin has become. Near understands and tells her that he will see her in a couple days when everything is dealt with; arresting Kira and Teru, deciding what to do with the death note and keeping its existence a secret while letting the world know that Kira is no more. Sani gets ready for bed as she makes sure all her doors are locked, outside light are turned off and anything that can be unplugged is unplugged. As she puts out the fire in the fireplace in the living room she begins to wonder when this stretch of warm weather will end. When she heads to her bedroom the doorbell sounds. It's ten o'clock and she decides to ignore it, but it rings twice and then three times. Annoyed she looks through the peephole but doesn't see anyone. She looks out the window beside the door and sees someone standing on her porch. She grabs a kitchen knife and slowly opens the door.

When she opens the door, a man in a black shirt smiles at her sensually before grabbing the back of her head; bringing her lips to his, he kisses her roughly. The knife impales his shoulder but he pays it no mind. She tries to push herself away with her free hand by moving into the house but he grabs her wrist and forces her to go inside. He closes the door behind him with his foot and then pins Sani to it. She drops the knife as he kisses her on the neck heading towards her chest. She catches her breath,

"Teru, you're bleeding on me." She moans as he slides his hand under her bra and caresses her chest with one hand while he unbuttons his shirt with the other.

"They are bigger than I remember." He takes his shirt off on one side and leaves it hanging on the arm with the bloody shoulder. She wraps his shirt around his shoulder and applies pressure.

"That's what happens when you have two kids." She lifts her legs off the ground and wraps them around Teru's waist while using the door for support as he unties her robe, unzips his pants and shimmies them down his legs until they are off. He then uses this hand to find his way to the inside of her underwear.

"No, Teru…not there. It…feels too good." Her moaning becomes louder the deeper he goes. Eventually he removes his fingers and lower her so their faces are level; she runs her fingers through his hair and then down the small of in his back pulling his waist closer to hers. They kiss wrapping their tongue around the other as he puts his hands on her butt cheeks. She removes her robe as he carries her to her bedroom; tossing her onto the bed so he can remove his boxer shorts. Naked, he fixes is glasses on his face and asks,

"Should I stay or should I go?"

"You know what I want, but is this what you want?" He climbs into bed between her legs and slides her panties off with his mouth; hanging from his teeth she retrieves them with one hand while using her other to pull his head to hers and his waist into her.

"If you want me in your life, then truly accept me." He demands as he leans back while removing her hand from the back of his hand.

She tosses her underwear away. "I have accepted you- all of you since the day we met. You never accepted all of me." She places one of his hands on her stomach that has some stretch marks from her pregnancies.

"I know I can never be Lawliet, I know I can never be what he was to you, but I hoped you wouldn't want me to fill his shoes, change the person I am or the things I believe in." He removes his hand and uses it to move her leg to the left and then sits back.

"Teru, I don't want to change you, you made it very clear you didn't want children and that you worship Kira. I want you to adjust to change. All I want is your love and understanding for my situation, but the only love you have is for Kira and you only understand justice." She sits up slightly, bringing her knees to her chest. "You were quick to judge me, believing that you were a distraction from my routine life or maybe I was your distraction; I wanted a new routine, I wanted to open my heart to another again, I wanted you to make room in yours for a deeper relationship with me, my daughter, and our son-but you shut me out and denied your son a father." She sits up fully now, leaning towards Teru, leading with her chest while her knees lay bent on the bed. "Did you know before I told you? Are you afraid he would turn out like you, your mother, or I?"

"No, I'm angry that you never told me you were pregnant- in person-not through the mail! I resent you for that! After you left, I chose to go down a risky path in life, thinking I wouldn't need to be around for anyone but God. I couldn't and can't be there for Taro or Kiara. Raising children is a delicate thing that takes much devotion. My devotion is elsewhere and I saw that your devotion was going towards your career and I, not the children. I knew I wasn't ready for children or a family- I just asked you to move in to see if that would work out. Neither of us was ready to take the next step. Most unfortunate, you let me walk away from my responsibility to that child knowing how much children mean to me. He will never know I or my mother; you and your family are his only influence…however he turns out- it is on you."

"No, you settled for a life in solitude so you wouldn't get hurt again, so you wouldn't be hurt by the hurt Taro or I would endure from life through the years. You're afraid of the present repeating your past so you chose to stay away and give up on us before that could happen! You only care about yourself and your so called, 'God' who made your pain go away and yet-you still are hurting." She turns over to her left side. "You're submissive to the powers you believe will keep you alive. You don't want any burdens. You're too scared to make the wrong move." Teru grips the sheets with a shaky hand.

"That's how you really feel? I'm a mindless-heartless-selfish puppet, is that it?"

"You said it not I. But no, you're a harden-hearted, tortured soul that drifted into the grips of wrong hands. And I can only blame myself for letting them reach you." Teru grips her chin and turns her face to his.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am a terrible person, Teru." Sani's voice becomes shaky and broken. "In truth, I inadvertently helped Kira chose you to share his power with knowing it would please you, but it made you obsessive and in reality I wanted you to lead me to him so I could take him down; I wanted to help L take down Kira. But I never could bring myself to do it because Kira is family too. I don't want to hurt the people I love. I don't want to lose you, Kira or Near. I am torn because I know only one will survive- that's why I keep my distance and that's why I regret getting you involved. I'm so sorry Teru for not being honest with you all these years- I do love you, Teru-I do, but I messed up everything- and now only fate can save you." Tears stream down Sani's face as Teru place his forehead on hers.

"I accept that. My purpose in life was made clear to me and I have accepted my fate. We shall see who prevails." He kisses her forehead and the strokes her hair. "Thank you for trying to save me, but I have already been saved and I can accept death knowing that. I'm sorry you are heart-broken and I wish I knew how to mend it. I am sorry I am part of your pain and I never meant to cause you any. I do want to make you feel better- if only for a while." He climbs on top of her and kisses the tears away. "I love you Sani. If this is our last night together before I head towards one climax, tonight I want to reach another with you."

"I love you too Teru and I can accept your resolve." Sani kisses him passionately on the lips before she spreads her legs. Teru thrusts away into the early hours of the morning while kissing her body from her cheeks to her feet. As he finishes, he allows his limbs to collapse. With his head on her chest, Sani holds onto him tight. "I want you to stay. Please, Teru, if you truly love me-stay with me this time. Don't let Kira drag you down with him; he will betray you like he did everyone else." She says hoping he is still awake. With no response she loosens her grip and accepts that she has no other option besides letting whatever happens- happen.

January 28th, 2013. In the morning, he is still there when she wakes up. A streak of dried blood goes from her shoulder to her hips matching the one on Teru's body. She slides out from under him, unties his bloody shirt from around his shoulder that managed to stay wrapped around his arm all night and tosses it in her bathroom sink and looks for gauze, cotton swabs, antibiotic ointment and medical tape. Teru wakes up and puts his boxers back on as he looks for his glasses. Sani laughs as she twirls them in her hand.

"You must have gone to the bathroom at some point. Here," She hands him his glasses. "You should really keep pressure on that wound before it opens up again." She wipes away the dried blood with a rag, soap and water, dries him with her sheets and applies antibiotic ointment to his wound before covering it with cotton swabs, gauze and medical tape. He looks around the room to see little spots of blood on her floor, bed and walls.

"It looks like someone died in here."

"You almost did; you should know better than to creep on a woman's house that late at night, especially when I'm home alone." She heads back to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. He goes to the living room to retrieve his cellphone from his pant pocket. No messages but he does check the time, 10 o'clock am. He has three hours to get to Yellow-Box Warehouse with the death note. He paces back and forth with anxiousness and anticipation. Noticing the house is really quiet he shouts to Sani from the living room and asks,

"Where are your children? With your aunt?" He returns to her bedroom.

"Yes…are you going? It's the twenty-eight." Teru leans against the window in her room staring at his own reflection.

"Yes, I have to go. God needs me there, God wants to meet me…God will let the world know his will is absolute." Teru walks to the bathroom door as Sani dries her face with her towel. "Sani, please come to the warehouse with me. I will keep you safe from those who don't see God when he stands before them. I want you with me, by my side as all my dreams become a reality." He hugs her from behind, wrapping his arms around her stomach. The touch feels much different than last night. She fears the Teru she was having a break-through with last night is gone. He rests his chin on her shoulder and whispers in her ear, "I love you always, Sani Mikami." Her body shakes as she remembers L's proposal the day he died; she refuses to go through this again and places her hands on the sink. She lowers her head; a slight relief she feels when no ring is presented, but defeated she feels. She doesn't want to see Light get arrested or even worse see him die or everyone else die if Near's plan fails. She doesn't want Teru to go, but she also doesn't want him to go into the situation alone. She knows everyone's minds are made up and now she has to make up hers.

"I'm not going anywhere until I shower so I advise you to let me go so I can." She kisses him on his cheek as he releases his hold.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want you to go out in public nude." Sani didn't realize that she never put her bra or underwear back on.

1:00pm. Light arrives to the warehouse with Ide, Aizawa, Matsuda and Ryuk while Near, Mogi, Stephan, Carter and Halle are already inside; Near sits on the ground wearing a mask of L's face. Teru and Sani arrive in the area but don't make their way to the warehouse right away. It's pouring outside and they are immediately soaked.

"Teru, can't we go inside?"  
"No. We need to wait outside." They hide behind a pile of wooden crates for a half-hour or so before he approaches the door. Sani sits against the building behind two barrels to the side of Teru. Teru ever so slightly opens the door and peeks through the small opening to see them all standing there, waiting for something to happen, someone to come, someone to see them-Teru. With one eye, he looks around the room first seeing Near and his real name, Nate River. The last person he sees is Light Yagami whose lifespan is not visible.

"God!" He is elated. Without a second thought he writes down Near's name first and then everyone else's; as he writes the names he says, "Delete" over and over again and with each one his voice becomes more fanatic and his face more manic. Sani can't help but wonder if he is possessed or his mental illness is getting the better of him. Or Light is controlling Mikami before he dies…even worse if Near used the Death Note to bring an end to Kira.

When he finishes writing down the last name, overwhelmed with satisfaction he screams, "DELETE!" as he bends backwards and looks at the sky with a devilish smile. Sani can see that insanity has taken him. She knows he will wait forty seconds before making his presence known, before he meets his God. She can hear someone call to him but their voice is muffled. Teru responds to it,

"Yes, I've written them." Seconds later a quick show of fear shows on his face as Near calls him by his full name and asks him to come in. He jumps to his feet and slides open the door gladly when Light asks him to do the same. He looks at his watch and begins to count,

"30 seconds, 31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38" His enthusiasm grows again and he closes the door. "39, 40!" Sani runs to the door to hear what is going on.

Everyone is still alive.

"But, why? Why won't they die?!" She hears Mikami scream, "God, I did everything you told me!" She hears Near voice telling Carter and Stephan to take him down and Teru screams as he is handcuffed. Moments later she hears a desperate Light shout,

"It's a trap! This whole thing is a set-up. This is all part of Near's plan to frame me! Isn't it a little odd that no one died after everyone's name was written in the notebook? This proves it's a trap!" She can hear the nervousness in his voice. Near reminds him that he said no one would die.

"No…er…that can't be. This is a set-up, I don't know this guy!" Mikami is devastated that God would deny him, discard all the effort he put into helping him get rid of all those who know about the notebook. He hangs his head with sorrow, defeat and frustration. Aizawa tells Light to give up. Matsuda falls to the ground in disappointment as Mogi moves in to handcuffLight.

"Stop it!" He shoves Mogi away from him before he is handcuffed and runs to the wall, stumbling over his own feet, running from the fear of losing.

"Light Yagami, L, Kira. It's over, you have lost the game." Near declares as Light breathes heavily. Near tells Light how he was able to keep everyone alive, thanking Mello for his sacrifice and Gevanni for his diligence and accuracy. He also reveals that he was able to see Ryuk the whole time. Sani is in speechless seeing that all Near told her was real: the death note, the shinigami and that Light is Kira and most importantly their plan worked and she and him are still alive. She hopes that Near will leave Teru in her care and not in jail.

"I bet that Mello knew in his heart that by working by ourselves, neither of us would be able to obtain our goal and surpass our mentor, L. But together, together we can stand with L! Together we can pass L! And now acting as one we face the Kira that defeated, L and with solid evidence beat him at his own game! Let's see you try to talk your way out of this one if you can." Near holds up finger dolls of him, Mello and L as Light twitches his eye and grinds his teeth-annoyed.

Suddenly he laughs uncontrollably and psychotically. The task force members look at him shocked as they see him unravel before them-his sanity slipping away quickly.

"That's right, I am Kira. And what can you do? Kill me right here? Hear this, I'm not only Kira, I am also God of the new world. Kira has become law in the world we now live. He's the one maintaining order. I have become justice; the only hope for mankind. Huh? Kill me? Is that really the right thing to do? Since Kira's appearance years ago, wars have stopped and global crime rates have been reduced to over 70%. But it's not enough this world is still rotten! And with too many rotten people…somebody has to do this! And when I got that notebook all those years ago I knew I had to do it. No, I was the only one who could. I understood killing people was a crime. There was no other way; the world had to be fixed! A purpose given to me! Only I could do it…who else could have done it and come this far?! Would they have kept going?" He declares as his voice calms down instantly. "The only one who can create a new world is me." He closes his eyes and takes a breath.

"No! You're just a murderer Light Yagami and this notebook is the deadliest weapon of mass murder in the history of mankind. You yielded to the power of the shinigami and the notebook and then confused yourself with a god. In the end you are nothing more than a crazy serial killer. That's all you are; nothing more and nothing less."

Silence fills the room for a couple of minutes before Light asks Near if the notebooks he has are real, claiming he only knows where the real one is to distract him as he pulls on a nob on his watch. One, two, three times a small plate opens with a small piece of paper on it from the death note. He starts to write down Near's name, but Matsuda shoots his hand. Blood streams form the wound covering his hand.

"Matsuda, you idiot! Who the hell do you think you're shooting at! Don't screw with me!" He sounds like a demon as his breathing become as erratic as his voice. Matsuda points the gun at him again.

"What was it all for then? What about your dad, what the hell did he die for?"

"My dad? Hahaha, you mean Soichiro Yagami? That's right Matsuda, in this world all these earnest people like him who fight for justice they always lose. Do you want a world where people like that are made to be fools?!" His blood drips on the floor from his hand as Light puts pressure on it. "Hehe, I know you understand so kill the others, shot them!" He demands as Matsuda cries with hatred in his eyes as he looks at Light. His whole body shakes as the gun shakes in his hands.

"You lead your own father to his death. Now he is gone and you call him a fool?" Light says nothing and tries to use his blood to finish writing Near's name. Matsuda shoots him five times on his arms, shoulders and abdomen. Light falls over into a puddle that has formed on the floor from a leaky roof on a rainy day.

"I'll kill him…I'll kill him! He has to die!" Matsuda stands over Light with the gun pointed at his forehead and shoots. Sani jumps at the gunshot and puts her hands on her head; she can't catch her breath as her body shakes and tears drown her face. She never thought it would go this far, but deep down she knew that someone might snap after learning the truth-after seeing the man who killed so many of those who just stood in his way. Matsuda misses Light as Mogi and Ide hold him back and Aizawa takes the gun from him.

"What the hell is this?" Light finds it harder to breath and even harder to get up. "Mikami, what are you waiting for? Write down their names! Write them down! Ah! Kill them now!"

Teru doesn't know what to do, but he does know that he looks pitiful. Light is covered in blood, rolling around in a puddle until he settles on his back. A light shines on him from the window on the roof as the sun comes out. He calls to Misa and Takada wondering where they are-wanting them to kill for him. Teru tears up seeing that Light is not God but scum and mad at himself for letting Light drag him into this situation. Knowing that he is going to jail for a long time, maybe even life he decides that he wants to end it, right here-right now. He manages to reopen the wound he received last night. Bloodstreams from his body like a fountain as he screams in agony. They can't help but wonder how he caused so much bleeding.

Sani heads for the door but she can't keep herself together; she can't see through the tears in her eyes and can't think about moving her body correctly with a distraught mind. She only manages to open the door slightly.

"Quick, stop the bleeding!" Ide tells Carter and Stephan.

"It's already too late. He will be dead in a few seconds." Stephan believes.

In the commotion, Light manages to get up after Ryuk denied his request to kill them for him. He makes his escape as everyone is distracted, somehow having the strength to open the door and run. He runs right pass Sani and they make direct eye contact. He doesn't ask why she is there or recognizes her and she doesn't recognize him, but the image of him moments before his death is still vivid to this day; a man running from death knowing that it will catch up to him because he is anything but immortal or divine.

He runs, slowly losing feelings in his arms and legs thinking of the boy he was before he found the death note; how hardened his heart already was back then and how his eyes always showed a deep disappointment for mankind. How innocent he was in believing that he could fix a rotten world and unaware of what the future holds when he found the tool to repair it with. Most importantly, he sees how alone he was in a world that doesn't comprehend his idea of justice and how alone he is now having no one to turn to. He sees himself six years ago reading a book while walking home, blocking out the world around him. He also sees how he was living a life of boredom; everything was too perfect, too unchanging in good and bad ways. One thing is for certain, he can never go back to those days even if he wanted to. Now, he finds himself in another warehouse with a small ceiling window that illuminates a staircase.

Back at the Yellow Box Warehouse, Aizawa, Matsuda, Ide and Mogi go after Light surprised that he was able to get away in his condition. Sani enters the warehouse to see Stephan still holding Teru as Halle gives Near the death note Aizawa had and Carter starts to call an ambulance but Sani stops him.

"What will you tell them when they come? No one needs to know what happened here." Sani can see that he is lightly breathing, but his eyes are closed. Stephan lays him on the floor.

"So you decided to come. I'm sorry that it came to this." Near crumbles up the piece of paper with his name and Light's blood on it. Sani sets her head on Teru's chest, in a pool of blood that sits there. Weakly he speaks,

"Taro, he does…look like me…at that…age."

"He is your son." Sani knows their conversation last night is lost in the depths of his mind for only last night was he in his right mind. He manages to put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry that I've…subjected him to…the same fate. I lost my father …when I was young too. Being a single mother…will be hard and raising a son without his father will…be even harder." He groans as sharp pains run through his body. "Promise me that you…will raise him better than my mother…raised me. Support him no matter…what his ideals and feelings…are about this world…maybe then will the real God answer his prayers…like he did mine all those years ago…before Kira. It is up to you…what those prayers…will be." He coughs up blood. She uses her body to apply pressure to his stab wound. Stephan looks away, feeling just a guilty as Sani.

"Teru, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…please, don't leave me…don't leave us."

"It's too late...make Taro your first priority. It's easy…to get lost…in this world…"

"Mikami, I'll help raise him. It's the least I can do…for the both of you." Stephan promises, but his promise is not heard here for Teru is dead.

Stephan uses his jacket to wipe the blood off Sani and carries her to the car he came in. He and Halle comfort him as Near and Carter wait for the other to return. Mogi and Ide couldn't find him but Matsuda and Aizawa keep looking after Sani points them in the right direction. Sani saw Ryuk fly off to find Light while sitting in the car. Soon, in the distance she sees him fly into the sky. When they return, they do without Light but know where his is.

"He's dead, Near from a heart attack. Ryuk, killed him and is nowhere to be found." Matsuda informs the rest as he holds Light's watch in his hand. They all go to the warehouse where Light spent his final moments before a heart attack kills him like so many of his victims; where this story of Kira and the death note ends. They are relieved that it is all finally over.

"A strange light shines here for a man who doesn't deserve it or that name. For such a tragic death, he looks pretty peaceful." Sani strokes his head like she did when he was a child, trying to see him in that light again.

 **Dust**

Light lies on the stairs illuminated by the setting sun's rays. The pain from bullets wounds is nothing compared to his unwavering feeling of not wanting to die. Thud. He can feel his heart jump out of his chest. His eyes open as much as they can before slowly closing half-way. As they close an apparition appears before him, standing at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for him. He watches Light die with calm eyes. He stands over him with a hunched back and hands in his pockets- no smirk or smile. Light sees L. His eyes slowly close as death takes him lucky that the last image he sees is that of a friend-a rival who he losses to.

"Let us explore the world of nothingness together." L says, but Light does not return to nothingness yet.

When his eyes open again, he sees a cloudy gray sky as he lies on his back. He sits up to find himself in a place with a desolate landscape with no sign of life. Everything seems to be in grayscale. A person is sitting on a boulder looking at him.

"Where am I now, you scum?!" Teru grabs him by the collar of his shirt. No blood or stab wounds are on his body and Light can feel that his gunshot wounds are gone too.

"This doesn't look like nothingness to me…we are dead aren't we?" Light looks pass Teru to see shinigami in the distance. Teru lets go of Light as Ryuk appears behind Light.

"You're not there yet, Light. Welcome to the shinigami realm. The King of Death has chosen you to become shinigami whether you want to or not."

"Wait, we are shinigami…but we still look human?" Teru looks at his hands and feels the flesh still on his face.

"It will start soon; you two will look like death in no time." Light and Teru look at each other before they both collapse to the ground; clutching their hearts they simultaneously say,

"A heart attack…but we are already de-." Their hearts stop and then they are shocked back to life.

"What the hell was that, Ryuk?"

"Each person a human kills with the death note, they steal their energy. When that person dies by the shinigami's hand, the energy they collected is transferred to the King of Death and Earth. Each time you die, Light and Teru, you are slowly drained of the energy until it lies within the King and Earth. Then you will have the appearance of death as the King forms a chain to you so he can receive this energy-sustaining your life and his. If broken a shinigami must keep a death note in the hands of a human, killing that human to get the energy and then repeating the process. If the shinigami uses theirs, then the energy will still be diverted to the King and Earth."

By the time Ryuk finishes, Light and Teru had already suffered ten heart attacks. They look at each other to see if their appearance is changing but it stays the same. Teru lies on the ground waiting for the next one while Light stands in front of Ryuk and says,

"So I have more power than the King of Death currently, correct? The King and you shinigami share the energy you collect. I stole the energy of thousands of lives and share it with no one. The King is more vulnerable than you think, Ryuk. I have plenty of time until I become a shinigami. In the meantime I think I'll pay the King a visit." Light limps away. Teru sits up trying to work through the pain. "It's time for the shinigami realm for a change in leadership. Mikami, I have not failed…I will become God very soon." Ryuk smiles as Light has not ended his excitement yet. He leads Light and Teru to the King, shinigami hear about Light's mission and wait to see how this will turn out with great anticipation.

Arriving to where the King of Death resides, Ryuk and Teru look on as Light approaches him. A massive being with the texture of a person's insides, bones hanging from flesh, chains outstretched around him, a skull within an opened-mouth skull- he stares at Light already knowing why he's here.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a human like you. That is saying a lot since I've been around for thousands of years. So you think you can defeat me, Light Yagami. You can kill a human but you cannot kill a god. You are a human, Light Ygami despite your legacy."

"I've read the book; a real biblical like story on the origin of religion. You may be the _King_ of Death, but even you were killed to be created. Whatever Earth was before was killed in order for her to be created. The only thing that will remain forever is the universe that is far greater than any god. You and I are the same, we want to save Earth and prolong her life as much as possible. Humans… have ravaged her and think only of the future of their kind. We need to take back control and help them help themselves. Catastrophe is the only way…so you tell me, King why do you want to be a human- depending on Earth to keep you alive?"

"Silly human…silly shinigami; you cannot kill me, you will die too."

"Who said anything about killing? I shall merely replace you." Chains appear around Light that connects to new death notes of several other shinigami, including the now more visibly shinigami-like Teru. He used the energy he had from the humans he killed to make death notes and chains to sustain him. The king feels the chains breaking off his body as the energy is transferred to Light. A few of the hanging chains rise up and chain to Light, drawing him towards the King's mouth. The head lifts up exposing a gigantic ribcage containing a pure red light of the same size. It encases Light and seeps down the chains to all the other shinigami until all the chains are connected to the King of Death once again.

Yellow-Box Warehouse. Near, Sani, Stephan and Kiara wait for Lucca and Taro to arrive with the death notes. Sani holds onto the death note they obtained in North Korea. They face the only entrance to the warehouse; Stephan stands next to the door making sure they don't try to pull the same thing Teru attempted to do years ago. The door does not slide open slightly but slides open quickly. Taro walks in first while Lucca enters in second closely behind him with a backpack on his back. Stephan can see the excitement in Lucca's eyes and the fear in Taro's. Belphagor is nowhere to be seen.

"So, everyone is here; all the players in the game, how exciting." Lucca expresses.

"You brought the death notes with you, Lucca?" Stephan asks.

"I did and all I need is the one you have. Hand it over and I shall spare your lives…including Taro's."

"Taro, so you don't want to kill us? I knew it; I knew Lucca was the one with the evil intentions." Kiara is relieved but Taro says nothing and hangs his head.

"Hand over the death notes, Lucca. This is no game! The death notes have no place in the human world. Mankind, shinigami and Earth lives are at stake. There will be no future for anyone if World War III happens. Give up on your childish notions of becoming a God of destruction and no one has to die here…we can save everyone." He smiles at him, taunting him, teasing him, showing him that death does not scare him either.

"Ha, save everyone, really Near. No matter what happens people will die. The war will happen and I will be alive and ready to lead as a shinigami, as their King! It doesn't matter if I die…you are too concerned with trying to keep everyone alive. You lose, Near. You will die sooner or later and be nothing but bones in the ground."

Stephan points his gun at Lucca and Sani and Kiara move in to get his backpack. Lucca readies his death note.

"Stay back or I will kill Taro! I already wrote down his first name." He shows them the death note. Stephan still aims at him,

"I bet my bullet will kill you before you can make that move."

"No! I can't let you live with the killing of a child on your conscious. Put the gun down, Stephan." Sani steps in the gun's path to Lucca. "I have the death note Lucca. Let them go and I will give it to you and Taro. Promise me you will not kill them and I won't finish writing your name in my death note." She shows him his name in her death note.

"Fine, they can go but you stay." Stephan lowers the gun and puts it away still feeling very uneasy about the situation. Kiara and Near look at Taro to see eyes full of sorrow. Ryuk whispers to them as they leave,

"Taro gave up ownership of all the death notes. I can see his lifespan and there isn't many numbers."

Sani holds the death note in her hand. Lucca commands Taro to retrieve the death note from Sani. She hands it to him without resistance. Still, he says nothing to his mother.

"You're the last one, Sani. I've waiting so many years to have a face to go with the name, Sani Wammy."

"You're his son aren't you?"

"The others have been taken care of by Kira, but he seemed to have missed you. You let my father die, just like Taro's. Now I shall kill you both for causing the death of my father."

"I believed your father to be innocent and Taro has nothing to do with this!"

"Do you know how I found out my father and mother? My drunk aunt told me as she was beating me just because she felt like it, because her husband had died and she wanted to take her anger out on someone. You left me with that despicable excuse of a caretaker!" He barks at her but he calms himself down. "She's dead now, I killed her and her stupid boyfriend like Kira killed Teru Mikami and that real murderer. You're next."

"Lucca, I will kill you with my bare hands before you finish writing the S in my name! You hear me!"

"Oh really let's test that theory." Lucca takes out a pen and a death note. As he places the point on the page, the death note is ripped from his hands. "What?!" He looks behind him to see Telivhan with intense red eyes.

"You shall die before writing down a letter in her name."

Earlier that day, Belphagor tells Lucca and Taro that he is leaving them to find the King and Earth having unfinished business to take care of.

"Watch your back, Lucca. Taro wants to kill you when this is all over. I advise you kill him before he kills you." Belphagor releases his wings and flies off to the shinigami realm. There he confronts the King and demands to know where Earth is.

"She is inside you as she is inside me. Every time your eyes glow red, you can feel the faint light, the faint energy she shares with you." The King lifts his massive body up to expose the red lights swirling inside of him. "Killing me or Earth means you will kill yourself."

The red light circles around Belphagor like blood circulating through veins in the body; he is mesmerized by how his eyes glow without his control, how comforting the light feels to his bones. From the light, he hears a strong voice speak,

"When the blood in your veins returns to the sea and the earth in your bones returns to the ground, perhaps then you will remember that this land does not belong to you, it is you who belongs to this land. I will need your energy like the brothers before you have given. Belphagor my child rest now; we have a plan to make all right again." The red light transforms into streams of lightning, water, rocks, fire and clouds flowing from the face of a woman with the most heavenly expression anyone has ever seen. He is the first shinigami to see the being called Earth.

He reaches out his hand to her slowly turning back into his human form,

"All I ever wanted was to be the best, to surpass L and be the world's greatest…person, be I recognized for good or evil. I see now that I am great having Earth personally wanting my help; seeing that L, Kira and the King failed to stop me and you had to step in. Earth, thank you." His skull head floats away from his face to reveal the face of a young man who changed his appearance to look identical to his rival. His eyes glow red with great satisfaction as he enters the arms of his mother. Fading away no shinigami is attached to the death notes in Lucca's and Near's possession.

"Telivhan! Why? Lucca won't die." Lucca runs away towards the door but trips over his own feet, spraining his ankle. Telivhan walks to Sani and Taro

"Yes he will; Belphagor is gone. I remember... Sani, Taro I am happy I finally met God. She's everything I imagined her to be." As he turns to dust he appears as his human self again for brief seconds: Teru the father of Taro, former Kira, prosecutor and boyfriend of Sani. "I will always love the both of you." He turns into sand and seeps through the cracks in his family's hands. Taro is broken out of the spell the death note had over him.

"I deserve to die. I wanted to do whatever was necessary to carry out my father's will-get rid of anyone in my way…I was going to kill all of you."

"Taro, your father was right before you. Teru Mikami is your father not Light Yagami."

"Then I realized that Lucca would stand in my way and wanted revenge against the world that has made his life a living hell. He wanted the world to burn; I wanted the world to reform."

"As did your father. It took him until his death to realize he was doing more harm than good…that good can't exist without evil. It's just human nature."

"Yeah I guess he really is my father then. Lucca already wrote my name in the death note before we came here. He was controlling my action before I die, but I guess his death freed me. I love you mom, I sorry it took me this long to realize that." Sani puts her hand over her mouth in disbelief. Suddenly the pile of dust flies into the air as Taro falls over from a heart attack.

"No! Taro…Taro!" Sani wipes the dust off his face and cradles him in her chest. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry! My baby, please don't go." She rocks back and forth, soaking his hair with her tears.

"What? No…I can't die. I won't die. Taro will though, he's already dead. He won't become a shinigami, I won't let him. I'll become a shinigami and the first thing I'll do is kill you, Sani! You hear me! I will kill you by the most unbearable death imaginable." He digs his nails into the floor until they are bloody, grinds his teeth in anticipation for the heart attack and smirks at the lifeless body of Taro in his helpless mother's hands. She raises her head with dagger eyes,

"Nothing you do to kill me will hurt as much as my life has. I'm not afraid to die, I'm afraid to live in world of pain with all the people I love dying well before their time. So come on, kill me! I deserve it anyways…I failed L…Light…Mello…Matt…Teru and my son."

She sets Taro on his father's remains and walks over to Lucca who is on his back. His face is frozen with a complex expression of fear and satisfaction. She reaches down and turns him over to his stomach and takes the backpack off his back. She empties its contents surprised to see he actually brought the death notes with him. She yells,

"Near, you can come back in, it's all over." The door slams open with Stephan rushing in first and runs straight to Sani. Kiara enters and looks around the room to see Taro and Lucca unresponsive before falling to her knees. Near retrieves the death notes and hands them to Ryuk before cradling Kiara. Stephan and Near walk the women over to Taro once again feeling guilty of causing unintentional deaths. Following the same fate as his father he dies in the hands of the struggle for justice at the warehouse that concludes another story of the death note once again. Ryuk looks over the city like he did seven years ago to see it still calm on the surface but internally chaos runs rapid through the streets. He flies off to see the skies becoming painted with orange from distant fires on the lands and seas. World War III has begun.

 **Earth**

"I wanted her to suffer for leading my father to his death as you wanted her to suffer for not protecting your father from Kira. I never wished death on her unlike you. If that is what you wish, Lucca, write down my name…I can't face them after all I've done. All I ask is that you spare my family. Let Earth decide their fates. They will give you the death note when I die seeing that you are serious with your threats. They won't kill you…if captured then that's on you. If you can't promise me that, then I will kill you when I become a shinigami and make sure you perish when you become a shinigami."

"Humph, as you wish. I'll control your every movement before you die. Thanks for making this encounter ten times easier. Sorry my friend-it had to end this way. No matter if you or I or humans, shinigami or Earth kills them…they will die and I will survive. I will become God of the new world, I will become the King of Death and I will rule Earth…a new world of perfection will be mine, my rule absolute!" Lucca begins to write down his name and events leading to Taro's death. Taro walks away and says to himself,

"No, Lucca. Earthhas a plan for a shinigami told me so…you and I are just pawns in a game of chess, L and Light the knights, my mother and Near the rooks, my sister and Stephan the bishops, the King of Death and the Queen of Life. Our deaths will aid in a draw between Earth and Space before we destroy all."

Winchester, England December 21st, 2020. Stephan chisels away at a headstone as Kiara plants flowers around the bases of the gravestones already there; blue, pink, red, yellow-colors that represent the person they cradle. Nate cleans the old stones by power wash while Roger brings them a tray of snacks and tea. Six new tombstones occupy plots in the family graveyard; Light's and Soichiro's were relocated to a plot beside L, while Teru's is next to Light's, Taro's next to his father's and Lucca's lies between his father, Micca's and mother, Ren's graves. Stephan's hand trembles as he etches the name of the sixth until Kiara places her hands on his' and says,

"She told me that she hoped that moving Taro to Mantua would help Lucca have a friend he could bond with; telling me that both boys had terrible mothers-failed guardians and fathers who were victims of the death note 'curse' she called it. They did find each other and became friends…but that friendship was fatal. She always blamed herself for the actions others chose to take. I never blamed her, not once…she did guide us **:** me, Mello, Matt, Light, and Taro. I guess I was just a little more receptive than Taro-no I was just lucky I got to meet my father before he died." Stephan sits back and hangs his arms off his knees.

"A boy needs his father, we need to know what kind of man he was so we can surpass them and be even greater. I tried to be that father figure but my influence wasn't enough…I never realized how lost he was, how much he resented his mother. In the end he had change of heart but it was too late. Taro wanted us to die because he loved us and to save us from Lucca, he gave up his life instead. You're right, we can't blame ourselves for others choices; we can only help them come to a conclusion."

Stephan heads inside to Sani's old bedroom where she lies in bed. She sits up as Stephan opens her door to bring her a cup of Earl Grey tea. She scoots over to let Stephan sit beside her as she drinks it; he stokes her hair from her roots down her back to her waist feeling her body become warmer if only for a few seconds. She lets out a cough as the tea goes down the wrong pipe. He pats her back gently as she tries to catch her breath. When she does she lies back down and wraps the cover around her hoping to trap the heat from her body from escaping. Kiara and Near enter the room. Kiara pulls up a chair to her bed while Near stands behind her.

"Mom, do you think mankind will make it?" Kiara asks.

"If I died right now with a loved one by my side, I'd be grateful. Death will be kind to you once you accept it. Promise me though; if you survive…help make the world wonderful again. A world where it's okay to make mistakes and be flawed, a world where the fear of death makes those want to live out each day to the fullest, where loss makes us love even more; a world where none can take the freedom of choice away and tyrant the justice of consequence. Promise me you will do a much better job than your father and I did."

"Of course, mother." Sani kisses Kiara on the forehead before she and Near head back to the UN meeting. A few days later, Sani gets out of bed and heads to the roof of Wammy House with Stephan to see people scouring the streets trying to find shelter. An alarm sounds meaning danger is near. On the roof they wait; not many have felt the intense power of a tsunami especially in England. Stephan sits back, relaxed as if he was watching a movie or TV show. Sani stands up with open arm as the wave engulfs her favorite church. Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.

"I kissed you on the forehead and you left, but you are here now, I'm glad. It was a beautiful way to die though." she says to her family as she lies in bed telling them of the dream she had. Ryuk stands over as an angel of death while Kiara, Stephan, Near and Roger are at her bedside. Softly, a heart attack takes her last breath away. With eyes still open, she sees Teru and L reach for her as a white light shines upon Taro's smiling face that greets her.

"This must be heaven." Sani sees heaven the way she believes it to be.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Church bells ring as a wedding guests gather in a church. They all stand as the bride walks down the aisle. Her grandfather walks her down the aisle trying to hold back tears of joy. In the crowd is her family and friends even some people she never met; orphans from Wammy House, people from law school, people from the law firm she worked at, some members of the International Task Force and their families, her uncle, aunt and her cousin's son, Misa, Takada, Micca, Lucca, Reiji, Roger, Avon, Bran, Matt, and Mello. Standing on one side of the alter is the bridal party while the other side is occupied by the groom's. Kimi, Halle, Sayu, and Kiara wear matching purple dresses and flowers in their hair. Kiara holds a box in her hand with the ring for the groom. Through her veil she looks at the groom's side. Near, Light, Teru and one other man stands before her. Something she said a long time ago comes back to mind as she smiles at this man,

"One day I will get married in that church. I will hear the bells chime. Ding-Ding-Ding. Promise me, you will be there. I want you to hear the happy bells too and not the sad ones."

L holds in his hand the ring for the bride. Watari gives her away to Stephan as Reverend Solomon Divine marries them. They passionately kiss as their guest throw up flowers and clap. Kiara twirls Near's hair for him as Matt hangs his head in defeat and Mello laughs at his failure. Light and L give each other a firm handshake before Misa sneaks in a hug, becoming sandwiched between them. Taro hugs his father for the first time-finally seeing the face of the man he longed to see. It's all Taro ever wanted, to know who his father was so he can judge for himself the kind of man his father was. Taro smiles at Sani as everyone bursts into light becoming thousands of tiny fireflies that fly to the sky to join the blanket of light that covers Earth. At its core is a child made of water, fire, air, plants and rocks. Stretching out from her fetal position as the lights wake her; she regains the energy to dance again. As she dances, life returns, nature is reborn and seasons change. Smaller than her mother, Terra now revolves around the sun where Earth once did. She hopes that one day she will be just as great as her mother and repair the relationship humans have with her.

Sani eyes open to see a world devoid of life and color. Ryuk kneels over her holding her hands as she sits up.

"Ryuk…where am I?"

"He wants to see you before you die." He picks her up and carries her away in his arms. As they fly she sees other shinigami flying behind him as they all make their way to The King. Arriving, Ryuk sets her down before joining the rest of the shinigami who look on from the sky. The massive being known as The King of Death speaks,

"Sani Wammy, you have read the origin story but there is more you need to know. Earth drew its energy from the plants that nurtured her, the moon and the stars that die near her. Humans and animals were created by Space or better known as the Galaxy to kill Earth for being a celestial body unlike any other-a threat to the Solar System. Human used animals for their own survival so their threat wasn't as major. When humans die their energy returns to Space and not Earth; the more energy going to Space, the weaker Earth becomes, the more likely a major catastrophe will happen that will kill Earth. The death note may be unlimited in pages but its power has a limit; if humans were killed by the masses by another human the energy would be lost to Space; killing humans in smaller quantities with the death note over time helps Earth steal energy gradually for constant protection. Her strength is dwindling with this world war and she doesn't have much time left…even Earth has a lifespan. You hold much energy from all the people who died at the hands of the death notes Ryuk gave me, your life is extended much beyond your time. Sani, please relinquish that energy to myself and Earth."

Sani stares into the exposed light from the King's core scared of its blood-likeness but amazed by how gentle it is to the eyes. She walks towards the small light and begins to see two figures in the distance. As she gets closer she sees a figure of a woman of great radiance holding a heart made of rock and water with air and fire encasing it in her hands. She cradles the heart as the elements around it crack, become polluted and extinguish slowly. The other figure is man holding out a red apple to her with a serious face. Behind him is the previous King of Death who has shrunken in size but holds the new King's conscious inside his boneycage.

"Light…you've been watching over me all this time. Sending Ryuk and Teru to protect me so I could help you save the world. You got what you wanted, though…you are a God."

"I did become God of a new world to me- the shinigami realm. I needed your help with correcting my mistakes. When I became King I allowed the shinigami to go into the human world to cause havoc, but Earth informed me of the damage I was causing forcing me to hunt down the rogue shinigami and retrieve energy for Earth."

"How did you become the King or better yet a shinigami?"

"All shinigami including the King were once humans. As you know the King was The Messiah, Nu was "The Virgin Mary" or mother of the human who became the King of Death, Justin was the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II (The Great), Daril was a Chinese princess named Changping, Rem was Amalasuntha- queen of Goths, Zellogi was a Native American chief Tenskwatawa, Ryuk was a Roman emperor Nero, Gukku was an African leader of the Zulu called Shaka, Sidoh was Cyrus the Great of Achaemenid Empire, Midora was empress Suiko of Japan, Deridovely was King Leonidas of Sparta, Calikarcha was the Indian King Chandragupta II , Kinddara was Queen Isabella of Castile and Aragon, and Gelus was King Tut-the boy king of Egypt. All were humans who were given a death note and used them for different reasons and motivations, but all killed humans for Earth. Being as smart as I am, I saw the weakness The King had to a human on its way to becoming a shinigami…as you can see however, he still has a hold on me."

"I never thought God would exist in a place like this...so he's the Old Testament and you're the New?" Sani places one hand on the apple and the other on his chest where his heart would lie under. Strangely, she feels a heartbeat. She looks into the former King's red eyes feeling warmth coming from his bones like he had flesh.

"I hope my actions can start making up for the trouble I caused but in no way am I seeking forgiveness. No more death notes will be let into the human world and the shinigami and I will abide by the rules Earth and the King before me set in stone. However, I still don't mind killing more criminals than the innocent though."

Light smiles at Sani as the apple and his being take away the energy, the added years onto her lifespan until they are all gone. Sani lifts her hands from the apple and his chest seeing that it has become transparent. Light gives the apple to Earth and she eats it; the heart in her hand grows in size until an immense red light beam from it. Some of it swirls around Sani and forms a path so she can find her way out. The King of Death, Light Yagami gives Earth the energy to create a great catastrophe to severely reduce human populations by a natural disaster, allowing Earth to recover while the humans do the same; no one is safe from the inevitable that is death and yet most try to prolong its advent.

"God is Earth and a messiah is the King of is no heaven or hell; death is equal for all besides the ones cursed with life sustained by death. All live, all die and all can cease to exist when the cycle is broken; Earth's greatest burden is sustaining the lives of the very things that threaten its life. A perfect world can never be created for humans weren't born to be perfect or to create. There is no true justice, no right or wrong and trying to justify what is-is pointless. Absolute power corrupts absolutely-always." Sani says to Ryuk as she leaves the shinigami realm. Following the red lights, she sees two shinigami who are smaller than the rest and knows they must be Taro and Lucca. They talk to Justin hoping to learn more about the death note having no recollection of their human lives. Sani can't help but to feel happy that her son is in a better place with his best friend and both are free from their fathers' legacies. Sani continues walking and as she does, Ryuk stops following her as the red lights fade away.

"Go on, Mu is up ahead…everyone is waiting for you." She kisses him on the cheek. Ryuk blushes and tries to let her phase through his body but she isn't there anymore. She laughs and walks into the blackness as a transparent; no energy of Earth nor light or darkness of Space present.


End file.
